A determined Harmeet Kahlon braved a painful right elbow to fire a superb six-under 66 for the opening round lead at the Rs One million Air Canada Forest Hill Golf Open, being played at the par-72, Forest Hill Golf & Country Club, in Chandigarh on Thursday.

The tournament is the 13th leg of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour.

Lucknow's Vijay Kumar missed a three-foot birdie putt on his final hole to settle two-strokes behind the leader at four-under 68 and in second place while the duo of Delhi's Ali Sher and Kolkata's Yusuf Ali were tied for the third position at two-under 70 apiece.

Indian professional golf needs people like Harmeet Kahlon. The local star, slated to participate in an Asian PGA Tour event in Myanmar this week, missed the event due to a troublesome right elbow.

"I was advised rest by my doctor, but the Hero Honda Golf Tour is the reason I am where I am today.

"I felt I owed it to the Tour and to the Forest Hill Golf & Country Club of which I am an honorary member," said the Hero Honda Masters 2002 winner. 

"Also, how could I miss a tournament at my hometown?" he queried.

The India Cements-sponsored Kahlon asserted his superiority early on Thursday, with a birdie on his opening hole where a driver - lob wedge combination - placed him two feet from the pin.  The 33-year old went on to birdie the fifth and ninth with a lone bogey on the eighth where he missed a simple two feet par putt. 

Kahlon carried on the demolition act on his return journey, which he began with two straight birdies.

"The birdie on the 11th was very satisfying as I sank a 30 feet putt from the edge of the green," said the Indian Oil employee. A bogey on the 14th, where his ball found a pit on the right of the green, was undone by a hat-trick of birdies on his closing holes, the 16th, 17th and 18th.

Vijay Kumar, once the undisputed 'King' of Indian golf and certainly the man who single-handedly put Lucknow on the Asian golfing map, had an uncomplicated round. Vijay birdied the fifth, seventh and eighth on his outward journey and the 14th on the way back.

"I played to a plan today," said the stocky golfer. "I attacked the pin on the front-nine which fetched me three birdies. Then when everybody else went about playing attacking golf, I played it safe. This helped me maintain and indeed improve on my lead," smiled the winner of the Hero Honda Open West, the inaugural Tour event of 2004 held at Pune in January this year.

"The missed birdie was unfortunate," concluded Vijay matter-of-factly.

Thind leads amateur field: Ashpreet Thind assumed the lead among the amateurs at a score of five-over 77.  Kuldeep Singh was second one stroke behind at 78.

Scores (after 18 holes): 66_Harmeet Kahlon; 68_Vijay Kumar; 70_Ali Sher, Yusuf Ali; 71_Basad Ali, Pappan, Naman Dawar; 72_Dinesh Kumar; 73_Zai Kipgen, Rahul Ganapathy, C Muniyappa  Amateurs: 77_Ashpreet Thind; 78_Kuldeep Singh.