SSP Chawrasia finished his first round at the men's individual golf event in Rio on Thursday with a level-par score of 71, finding himself tied-27th in the 60-strong field.
The other Indian in the draw, Anirban Lahiri, had a poor start, shooting 3-over 74 to finish the first round tied 50th, while Bangladesh's Siddikur Rahman shot 4-over 75. The lead belonged to Australian Marcus Fraser, who shot 8-under 63, and second place was shared by Canadian Graham DeLaet and 2016 Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson of Sweden, both of whom finished at 5-under 66.
Chawrasia began his front nine well, shooting birdies on the 486-yard par-four 2nd and the 547-yard par-five 5th, and that put him in the top 10 of the leaderboard for some time. However, he shot a bogey each on the par-four 7th and the par-five 10th.
There were two further bogeys on the 12th and the 13th, though he did score a birdie each on the 590-yard par-five 10th and the 571-yard par-five 18th. Lahiri, who had teed off earlier than Chawrasia alongside Bubba Watson of USA and Germany's Martin Kaymer, had a tough time over the first 12 holes, shooting five bogeys over them.
Lahiri's first birdie came on the 412-yard par-four 15th and he finished his first round by sinking another birdie on the par-five 18th. Chawrasia will tee off for his second round on Friday at 5:22 pm IST, while Lahiri will start at 7:29 pm IST.
Rahman, Bangaldesh's first Olympian to directly qualify for any sport in the nation's history, began his front nine well, scoring birdies on the par-five 5th and the par-three 8th, but endured a poor back nine, with five bogeys between the 488-yard par-four 11th and the 303-yard par-four 16th, that saw his challenge taper away towards the end. He will begin the second round tied-56th.