Delhi's Ashok Kumar returned a career-best score and set a new course record with a 10-under par 62 midway through the four-round Hindu Open Golf Championship, the third leg of the Amby Valley PGAI Indian tour in Chennai on Thursday.

Ashok, who is over three years into the professional circuit, was on song, as he teed off as one of the early groups this morning following a disappointing par 72 score on Wednesday.

Four-time champion golfer Mukesh Kumar returned a five under par 65 today but he was in the third spot behind Bangalore's Raghul Ganapathy (136).

Ashok Kumar, the DLF Golf and Country Club pro, began his back nine with a superb 10-foot birdie and then chipped in from 30 feet for an eagle.

Though he had a bogey on the par 4 third hole, Ashok Kumar, who had finished on top of the Order of Merit for 2003-04, made successive birdies on the 4th and 5th and further improved his game with an enviable eagle, his second for the day, on the sixth hole, where his drive 4-iron approach shot set him up for a seven-feet eagle.

"I was totally focused on my game today and never wanted to end up with any bogey, even if I do not achieve a birdie. I missed just a solitary green today and everything fell in place for me," Ashok Kumar said after his feat.

A "tap-in-distance" eagle achieved by Rahul Ganapathy helped him obtain a cushion of one under par 36 on his first nine holes. Helped by four birdies on the 10th, 14th, 16th and 18th, Ganapathy, added to his 3-under 69 yesterday, forged to second spot.

Mukesh Kumar, a dreaded pro on the circuit, played a superb game today. He was four under on the first nine and had three birdies on his return to tally 137, for the third spot.