Defending champion Eugenio Chacarra fired four birdies and three bogeys before an eagle at the par-5 18th for a 3-under 69 placed him at the top of the Hero Indian Open leaderboard at 8-under.

“Like I said at the start of the week, I think the good vibes when I got here, the good memories came up and when I’m having fun playing golf, I already proved I’m one of the best players in the world,” said the Spaniard.

“It’s been a great two days, a great group obviously. Casey and Francesco [Molinari], great guys and tremendous players. Casey [showed] us all today how to score, how to play golf, and it was fun to watch.

“And yeah, my game’s there. I didn’t have the best of the starts on my putting but I feel like my ball striking has been outstanding and around these places, you have that, you’re going to take advantage of the course.

“From the tee I’ve been really, really good and especially the driver – I think I hit it on five holes and I hit every fairway.”

Chacarra is hoping to join India’s S.S.P. Chawrasia(2016-17) as back-to-back winners of the the Hero Indian Open.

South African Casey Jarvis carded nine birdies and one bogey for a 64, the best round of the week, and lies in second place at 7-under. Jarvis is aiming to win his third title this season having won at the Kenya Magical Open and the Investec South African Open Championship.

“The greens were obviously a little bit softer this morning, so kind of took advantage of that on my front nine. And then we also had a bit of rain, which helped for the back nine,” said Jarvis.

“I can’t count the feet of putts I made today, but I know it is a whole lot.”

Compatriot MJ Daffue, who won last week’s DP World PGTI Open on the HotelPlanner Tour, started on the back nine and made five birdies and two bogeys and also eagled the 18th for a 67 and third place at 6-under.

Overnight leader Freddy Schott of Germany made four birdies and five bogeys for a 73 and moved down into a share of fourth place at 5-under.

Tied alongside Schott through 14 holes are Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen who has made five birdies and one bogey as well as England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, winner of last week’s Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour, who made seven birdies – four consecutively from the 6th and three from the 11th, as well as four bogeys.

Play was suspended for the day due to darkness. Round 2 will restart at 07:15 local time. Round 3 will be a two tee start, not commencing before 10:00 local time.

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