China's Liang Wenchong and Australia's Marcus Fraser fired bogey-free eight-under-par 64s to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Singapore Masters yesterday.

Teeing off in one of the first groups on the less demanding par-72, 6,493-meter Classic Course, the 28-year-old Liang reached the turn on three-under after a bogey-free 33, before storming ahead of the field with a run of five birdies over six holes.

Fraser started his round in the early afternoon and recorded four birdies on both the front and back nines to join Liang at the top of the leaderboard towards the end of the day.

India's Jyoti Randhawa, Shingo Katayama of Japan and Briton Barry Hume are all one shot behind the leaders at the US$1.1 million co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event.

The opening two rounds are split over two layouts at the Laguna National Golf Club before the field is reduced today and the final 36 holes are played on the tougher par-72, 6,589-meter Masters Course.

The leading 14 players completed their rounds on the Classic Course with England's Graeme Storm, Irishman Peter Lawrie, Filipino Angelo Que, New Zealand's Mark Brown and Martin Kaymer of Germany sharing sixth place with six-under-par 66s.

The lowest round on the Masters Course was four-under 68 by a group of five players, including holder Mardan Mamat of Singapore, good enough for a share of 15th place.

With his unconventional baseball-like swing, Liang is the highest-ranked Chinese professional at 114 in the world and has registered seven wins on his domestic tour although he is still searching for a breakthrough victory overseas.

"I was driving it steady and my putting was pretty consistent as well," he told reporters.

"I played well on the front nine and after firing three birdies, I was very relaxed heading into the last nine holes.

"I carried the momentum into the back nine and I am pleased with my overall first round performance."

Fraser, whose lackluster season so far includes missing the cut at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic, got off to good start with birdies on the first two holes. A 40-foot birdie chip on the final hole pushed him into the shared lead.

"I just did everything well today, I mean I hit a lot of wedge shots in good and apart from a couple of wayward drives, my driving was pretty good," Fraser said.

Randhawa recovered from a bogey on No. 3 after a dropped shot with three consecutive birdies from the 4th, while Hume made an eagle on the par-5 No. 15 on top of six birdies.

The 2005 winner, Nick Dougherty of Britain, battled with a solid back nine on the Masters Course to finish on two-under-par 70 and in a tie for 58th - just above the projected cut line - as some of the big names struggled in the Singapore heat.

European Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood (70), David Howell (71) and Darren Clarke (74) all need to improve today if they are to be around for the weekend.　
 
(Shanghai Daily March 10, 2007)