CRANS-SUR-SIERRE (Switzerland), Sept 4: World number two Ernie Els finally mastered the Crans course with a six-under-par 65 on Thursday to share a one-shot lead in the European Masters with defending champion Robert Karlsson of Sweden.

Els has never really threatened in Switzerland but a seven-birdie return to follow his closing 64 in Munich the previous week, has given the South African encouragement that he can retain his current European number one spot.

First round scores

65 Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Ernie Els (South Africa)

66 Marc Farry (France), Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe), Eduardo Romero (Argentina), Henrik Bjornstad (Norway), Paul Eales

67 Sergio Garcia (Spain), Anders Hansen (Denmark), Peter Hedblom (Sweden), Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands), Patrik Sjoland (Sweden), Alessandro Tadini (Italy), Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina), Miguel Angel Martin (Spain), Richard Bland

68 Paul Casey, Matthew Cort, David Howell, Barry Lane, Adam Mednick (Sweden), Carlos Rodiles (Spain), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Paul Lawrie, Jamie Spence, Mattias Eliasson (Sweden), Roger Wessels (South Africa)

69 Simon Dyson, Joakim Haeggman (Sweden), Simon Hurd, Raphael Jacquelin (France), Ronan Rafferty, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Bradford Vaughan (South Africa), Shaun P Webster, Marcus Fraser (Australia), Jamie Donaldson Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain).—Reuters