Whitehouse leads at Russian Open

MOSCOW, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Tom Whitehouse of England shot a 6-under 66 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Russian Open.

Five players were tied for second at 67, including countryman and two-time Russian Open champion Iain Pyman. The others are Spain's Jesus Maria Arruti, Scotland's David Drysdale and Mikael Lundberg and Fredrik Widmark of Sweden.

Ben Mason and Shaun P. Webster of England, Spain's Jose Manuel Carriles and Welshman Craig Williams are one stroke further back.

The tournament is the third dual-ranking event of the 2005 season for the European and Challenge Tours. With the PGA Championship being played this week in Springfield, N.J., no player ranked in the Order of Merit's top-100 is in the field.