David Horsey holds one-shot lead on curtailed first day of Indian Open

David Horsey edged into a one-shot lead shortly before play was suspended due to darkness on a weather-delayed opening day of the Hero Indian Open.

Matteo Manassero held the clubhouse lead on four under with 67 players, including Horsey, yet to complete their first rounds after play was suspended for over an hour and a half due to the threat of lightning at the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi.

Horsey made birdies at the second and sixth before picking up three in four holes around the turn, and the Englishman had just parred the long 15th when fading light forced the players from the course.

The four-time European Tour winner's mid-round birdie salvo took him ahead of Manassero, who was safely in the clubhouse having recovered from a double-bogey at his first hole to return a battling 68.

Manassero, without a victory since winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2013, got off to a torrid start with a six at the 10th and was one over for the day until a birdie at the 17th prompted a sparkling run.

The young Italian picked up five shots in six holes on the back of some sublime iron play, including three approaches to inside six feet, and he converted another precise wedge to eight feet at the eighth to cap a sterling comeback.

"I have had three weeks at home and to come back to a tough course like this, it's never easy," Manassero said. "So the fact that I found a lot of birdies, it's very, very positive and I'll try to keep it that way.

"You have to be always in play, otherwise there will be a lot of high numbers and a lot of doubles It's very easy to lose shots on this course."

Horsey's fellow Englishman Eddie Pepperell also made an encouraging start as he posted a three-under 69, while Sam Walker and Steven Tiley opened with solid 70s to bolster the English presence at the top of the leaderboard.

Pepperell bounced back from a six at the long fourth with three birdies in four holes from the sixth, and he added another at the 11th before undoing much of his good work with back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15.

But the popular 26-year-old again responded positively with birdies at each of the last two holes to get back to three under, with Spain's Carlos Pigem and Frenchman Gregory Havret also two off the lead with two and six holes to play respectively.

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Ryder Cup star Rafa Cabrera Bello did well to salvage a one-over 73 despite having three double-bogeys on his card, which also featured five birdies, but home favourite and 2015 champion Anirban Lahiri has work to do to make the cut after he opened with an erratic 76 blighted by a run of three bogeys followed by a triple-bogey late in his round.