Jyoti Randhawa carded an opening- round, 6-under 64 on Thursday to take a 1-shot lead at the Hong Kong Open.
Randhawa is making just his fifth start on tour this season and he has never won on the European Tour. Randhawa finished tied for 30th at last year's Hong Kong Open in December.
Angelo Que shot a 5-under 65 at Hong Kong Golf Club on Thursday and he finished the first round alone in second place.
Ernie Els, making his Hong Kong Open debut, headlines a group of nine players deadlocked at 4-under 66. Joining Els in a tie for third are James Heath, Wei- chih Lu, Nacho Elvira, Jbe Kruger, Raphael Jacquelin, Seuk-hyun Baek, Daan Huizing and Nicolas Colsaerts.
Randhawa did not get off to the start he would have wanted as he tripped to a bogey at the first. From there it was smooth sailing for the 42-year-old from India. A pair of pars preceded Randhawa's first birdie of the day on No. 4. He rounded out his front nine with four pars and a birdie on No. 9, getting Randhawa into red numbers for the first time as he made the turn.
The back nine was where Randhawa did most of his work, making three birdies in the first four holes from No. 10. Already at minus-4, Randhawa rattled off three straight pars from 14 before draining back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, vaulting him to the top of the leaderboard.
"For me it's really awesome," Randhawa said. "Today I really putted my heart out so I'm very happy with the way it went."
Que, beginning his round on the back nine, made five straight pars before making a pair of birdies on 15 and 16, getting him to minus-2. Que finished off the front nine with back-to-back pars.
Three birdies in a four-hole stretch from No. 1 propelled Que to minus-5. He closed out day one with five straight pars from No. 5 to finish off a bogey- free 65.
Els bogeyed the first, but he rebounded quickly with a birdie at the second to get back to even par. Two more birdies on the front side at five and eight had the South African at minus-2 as he made the turn.
Back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13 had Els rolling, but he was slowed down by a bogey on No. 15. Els had another quick response with a birdie on No. 16 and he closed out his 66 with a pair of pars on 17 and 18.
"I kept it together for the most part and had quite a few opportunities. I'm quite pleased with that, obviously," said Els "The players who have won here is like a who's who of golf -- but I don't want to think about that. Let's concentrate on tomorrow and take it from there."
NOTES: Randhawa has missed the cut in two of his four events so far this season, with his best finish coming at the European Masters, where he tied for 21st ... Miguel Angel Jimenez, who has won this event two years in a row and four times overall, finished the first round tied for 103rd at 2-over-par 72.
[SportsNetwork.com]
