KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28: Britons Barry Lane and Alastair Forsyth fired eight-under-par 63’s to share the lead after the weather-affected first round of the Malaysian Open Thursday.

The duo led by two shots from Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez and India’s Harmeet Kahlon, who shared second place after firing six-under-par 65’s at the Royal Selangor GC.

Thirty-six players will complete their first rounds on Friday morning after play was suspended for two hours when an afternoon thunderstorm compounded the difficult playing conditions.

Lane, who was first in the clubhouse, carded an eagle and six birdies in the opening round of this 1.41 million euros ($1.22 million) event, jointly-sanctioned by the European and Asian PGA Tours.

The 41-year-old Englishman eagled the par-five third in a four-under-par outward 32, before carding four consecutive birdies from the 14th to 17th holes in a back half 31.

Scotland’s Forsyth, winner of the European Tour’s 1999 Qualifying School, fired four birdies either side of the turn.

First round scores

63 Alastair Forsyth (Britain), Barry Lane (Britain);

65 Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina), Harmeet Kahlon (India);

66 Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands), Jarrod Moseley (Australia), Jyoti Randhawa (India), Thavorn Wiratchant (Thailand);

67 Nick O’Hern (Australia), Carlos Rodiles (Spain), Arjun Singh (India);

68 Warren Bennett (Britain), Desvonde Botes (South Africa), Alex Cejka (Germany), Nick Faldo (Britain), Richard S. Johnson (Sweden), Brad Kennedy (Australia), Thomas Levet (France), Eduardo Romero (Argentina), Patrik Sjoland (Sweden), Ian Woosnam (Britain), Wei-Tze Yeh (Taiwan), Lian-Wei Zhang (China).—Reuters