Delhi’s Kapil Kumar carried his red-hot form into the season-ending Rs 1.5 crore prize money Tata Steel Tour Championship with a spellbinding effort of 10-under-62 in round one at Golmuri golf course on Thursday.

Calcutta-based SSP Chawrasia made a happy return to Jamshedpur after 12-long years as he struck a spectacular nine-under-63 in the first round to be placed second.

On a cold and overcast day that witnessed a light drizzle for about 20 minutes, Delhi’s Rashid Khan was tied third at 64 along with Bangalore’s Khalin Joshi, Calcutta’s Shankar Das and Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah.

Kapil started with an error-free 62. His consistent iron-play and much-improved chipping saw him set up four of his birdies within seven feet of the flag.

Kapil’s brilliant driving and tee shots then contributed to his four birdies on the front-nine. He landed his approach from 170 yards to within a foot of the pin on the eighth for his last birdie of the day.

“I’ve drawn a lot of confidence from my performances over the last two weeks. I shot four low scores and was the leader for the first three rounds in Calcutta and the halfway leader in Bangalore,” the 27-year-old said.

Chawrasia’s 63 was punctuated by an eagle on the second, four birdies on the front-nine and three more on the back-nine. Chawrasia, who recently retained his European Tour card, had a splendid start as he landed his approach from 200 yards on the par-5 second within four feet of the hole to set up an eagle.

Two of the marquee names in the field, Jeev Milkha Singh and Gaganjeet Bhullar, too enjoyed a promising start as both returned scores of 66 to be tied ninth.

Jeev, playing his first-ever competitive round at Golmuri, mixed eight birdies with two bogeys in his round of 66.

“It’s an amazing layout here at Golmuri. One needs to shape the ball well and distance control is important,” he said.