New Delhi [India], October 15 (ANI): Denmark's Niklas Nrgaard, who has twice finished tied second this season, produced a six-under-par 66 with a closing birdie to take the first-round clubhouse lead at the India Championship on Thursday.

The result surprised even Norgaard, whose biggest weapon is his driver, a club usually kept aside at the Delhi Golf Club with its tight fairways and penal roughs.

Chasing him hard is the trio of Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin, Belgian Thomas Detry and Eugenio Chacarra of Spain. The Spaniard has had great results previously in India, but a closing bogey robbed him of the chance of a shared clubhouse lead here today, as per a press release. 

The opening day at the 4 million USD championship was interrupted by thunderstorms and lightning, forcing a lengthy suspension of 4 hours and 50 minutes and 24 mm of rain. Yet, the Delhi Golf Club did well to hold up when play resumed.

The top Indian was Om Prakash Chouhan (68), who was Tied-fifth alongside three Scottish players - Scott Jamieson, Ewen Ferguson and Robert MacIntyre at four-under, alongside Englishman Marcus Armitage and Poland's Adrian Meronk at the same score.

The next best Indian after Chouhan was Saptak Talwar (71) at T-29.

Nrgaard made the most of his opportunities to finish one stroke ahead of the chasing trio, who returned matching rounds of 67. A big driver off the tee, the leader Norgaard, said as per a press release, "I am very, very happy. Bit surprised as well. This (course) should not suit me at all. It pretty much just neutralises my best weapon, which is my driver. But I just managed to make no big mistakes, put the irons in play, and putt pretty well. I am very, very happy to be able to finish today before darkness."

Nrgaard has taken a long and hard route to contention. The powerful Danish golfer spent time on the Nordic Golf League, where he had three wins, and the HotelPlanner Tour before winning his breakthrough DP World Tour title at the age of 32 at the British Masters in 2024.

The Dane is coming off a couple of superb results, including a runner-up finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links a fortnight ago and a T-2 at the British Masters in August.

For Chacarra, the day continued a special association with Indian golf. The Spaniard transformed his career with victory at the 2025 Hero Indian Open after receiving a sponsor's invitation, having lost his place in LIV Golf. This year he was runner-up at the same event and also had a T-5 at the Asian Tour's International Series last year.

During the middle of the 2026 DP World Tour season, he won the KLM Open and the Italian Open in successive weeks. Over the last two weeks, despite not being 100 per cent, he was T-3 in France and T-2 in Spain.

The spotlight expectedly was on marquee names, and both the defending champion, Tommy Fleetwood (70) and the six-time Major winner, Rory McIlroy (70) were T-13.

When asked what it was about India that he loved so much and played well here, Chacarra said, "Yeah, I know. Need to play here more often, I guess. Yeah, just love the greens. I can see the breaks better than in other places."

On his charge towards the Race to Dubai Rankings, he added, "It is a goal that I have with my team now, to try and make a push in the last four events to try to win it. They're the best players in the world like Rory and Patrick, so it's not going to be easy."

With seven Top-5 finishes this season, he has the momentum with him and wants to make best use of it.

McKibbin, one of the promising young players on the circuit, also carded a 67, while Belgium's Detry matched Chacarra to complete the three-way tie for second behind Nrgaard.

Chouhan's 68 placed him within two shots of the lead and gave the home contingent an encouraging start against a field packed with international winners. His position is particularly significant in a tournament that offers Indian professionals a rare opportunity to compete directly against some of the leading names in world golf.

On using his local knowledge, Chouhan added, "Yes, it helped because I have played Delhi Golf Club so many times and know the course well. My main plan today was to keep the ball on the fairway. I had to adjust my mindset because finding the fairway is important for setting up the second shot."

"I take it one round at a time. I have shot four-under today, and now I will focus on my next round."

On how rain affected the course, he said, "Before the rain, the greens were firm, and the ball was rolling out, so I had to think carefully about whether to attack the flags. After the rain, I could be more aggressive."

Experienced Indian campaigners such as Shubhankar Sharma, Anirban Lahiri, Shiv Kapur, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Sachin Baisoya were yet to finish their first round. Karandeep Kochhar was among those yet to start. (ANI)