India’s Shubhankar Sharma had a dream debut at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship with an opening round six-under 65 to be in tied second place and is just one shot behind leader Louis Oosthuizen in Mexico City on Thursday.

The 21-year-old, who has won co-sanctioned Asian Tour and European Tour tournaments in South Africa and Malaysia over a span of two months, returned a bogey free card which included an eagle and four birdies at the Club Golf de Chapultepec.

“I’m really pleased with the way I played. I was very nervous in the morning, but very happy with the way I put it all together. Even after the rain (lightning) delay that we had, just to make birdie on the last hole (on nine), absolutely fantastic,” said a delighted Sharma.

Despite missing the cut by one stroke in Oman and Qatar over the past fortnight, Sharma produced a flawless display which his caddie Gurbaaz Mann, a former Asian Tour player himself, described as “complete”.

Starting his day from the 10th tee, Sharma birdied 11 and 12 from 13 and two feet respectively before rolling in a tricky 15-footer for his third birdie on 18. After finding the fringe at the first hole, the Indian chipped home for eagle from 10 yards. He closed out his round in style by nearly holing out for eagle for an eventual tap-in birdie.

“It’s not a bad way at all (to finish). As soon as I hit it I knew I hit a good shot. I was also really happy with the birdie I made on 18. It was a very, very tough putt, almost two feet of break on that putt. On the first hole it’s just about hitting the right shot and positioning yourself. I couldn’t have hit it in a better place. I was just short of the green and had a very easy chip shot (for eagle),” he said.

“To be honest, I’m actually relaxed now. I just wanted the first round to get out of the way. You’re always very happy when you start with such a low round, especially for me. This is such a big event, I would say this is taking some pressure off me, playing well on this course. And I proved to myself that I can roll it, so I’ll just do the same things that I’ve been doing,” he said.

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat carded a 66 for tied fifth position while China’s Haotong Li returned a 73. Malaysia’s Gavin Green, the reigning Asian Tour No. 1, shot a 78.