Nirat fires 61 for first-round lead

SANYA, China, March 15 (UPI) -- Chapchai Nirat fired a course-record 11-under-par 61 Thursday and owns a three-shot lead after one round of the TCL Classic golf tournament in China.

Nirat's 61 came on 11 birdies and seven pars and was one stroke better than the course record set last year at the Yalong Bay Golf Club by Wen-Chong Liang and Edward Loar.

Raphael Echenique was in second place after Thursday's first round at 8-under-par 64 while Keith Horne, Richard Lee and Wen-teh Lu were tied for third at seven-under. They were among 92 golfers to beat par at Yalong Bay on Thursday.

Nirat started his round Thursday on the back nine and birdied each even numbered hole and parred the others to turn at five-under. He birdied No. 1 and ran of four consecutive birdies from Nos. 4-7. A birdie on No. 9 gave him the course record.