Noida, April 2: Jairaj Singh Sandhu and Prakhar Asawa shot an identical round a one-over par 72 to take the lead in the first round of IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors that teed off at the Noida Golf Course here on Tuesday.
 
Viraj Madappa was lying third at 73 while Feroz Singh Garewal was fourth at 74. Pukhraj Singh Gill and Raghubir Choudhary shared the fifth position at 75.
 
There was three-way tie for lead in Category B with Kartik Digvijay Singh, Udayajit Bhalotia and Kartik Sharma all returning a card of 77. Sarthak Chhibber was fourth at 78 while as many as four players -  Hassan Rahman, Pratheek Nagaprasad, Jaiveer Singh and Tanvir Kahlon shared the fifth position at 79.
 
Jairaj had a lone birdie on the          par-4 sixth against three bogeys on his front nine. Jairaj after a steady back nine, eagled the par-5 17th but signed off with a bogey to return a card of 72. Co-leader Prakhar with a birdie on the par-4 7th, took the turn at 1-under. However two bogeys on the 13th and 17th, reduced his score to 1-over.
 
Top scores after 18 holes
 
Category A
72 Jairaj Singh Sandhu, Prakhar Asawa; 73 Viraj Madappa; 74 Feroz Singh Garewal; 75 Pukhraj Singh Gill, Raghubir Choudhary 75; 76 Gurkirat Singh, Rajat Baisoya, Vinay Kumar Yadav; 77 Kartikey Vashist.
 
Category B
77 Kartik Digvijay Singh, Udayjit Bhalotia, Kartik Sharma; 78 Sarthak Chhibber; 79 Hassan Rahman, Pratheek Nagaprasad, Jaiveer Singh, Tanvir Kahlon; 80 Arjun Prasad; 81 Ranveer Grewal, Nishkarsh Sachdeva, Karandeep Kochhar