Michael Hirmer posted an eight under par round of 64 to take a one stroke lead after the first round of The Challenge presented by KGA at Karnataka Golf Association.

The 26-year-old German, playing in his first year on the European Challenge Tour, mixed nine birdies - including six in a seven hole stretch on the back nine - with a solitary bogey, to lead by one in Bangalore.

One shot back on seven under par are England’s Alex Fitzpatrick, Germany’s Philipp Katich and home favourite Divyanshu Bajaj, with the Indian registering an ace on the par three 13th to put himself in early contention.

“It was a good day,” he said. “I got off to a great start and my putter was really hot. I was in a nice flow this morning and I am really happy.

“I didn’t play seven or 18 well last week so I tried to play them a bit more conservatively today,” he said. “They are the most difficult holes on this course. I have a few birdie holes on my mind and the focus is to try and get pin high on every approach. It’s important to hit fairways on this course and I’ve done a good job of that so far.

The second round gets under way at 6.40am local time, with Hirmer teeing it up alongside India’s Khalin H Joshi and Frenchman Frederic Lacroix at 12.15pm.