14 May 2004	Friday	23 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

SHANGHAI, May 13: Former world number one Greg Norman, who has not won a European Tour event for 10 years, finished the Asian Open first round just one shot off the lead after a clinical 67 on Thursday.

"I'm very happy with the round," the 49-year-old Australian told reporters. "It was a good solid day." The first-round leader was England's Simon Dyson, who shot a sparkling six-under-par 66 to continue his fine form in the region where in 2000 he won the Macao Open, the China Open and the Hong Kong Open.

South Korean K.J. Choi tied with Norman, Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng and Gregory Hanrahan of the United States at five under after sinking a 25-foot birdie putt at the 18th.

Leading first round scores:

66 - Simon Dyson (Britain)

67 - K.J. Choi (South Korea), Gregory Hanrahan (US), Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand), Greg Norman (Australia).

68 - Marcus Both (Australia), Alex Cejka (Germany), David Drysdale (Britain), Mattias Eliasson (Sweden), Paul McGinley (Ireland), Craig Spence (Australia).

69 - Adam Groom (Australia), James Kingston (South Africa), Rafael Ponce (Ecuador), Gary Rusnak (US).

70 - Jonathan Cheetham (Britain), Gary Emerson (Britain), Chris Gane (Britain), Craig Kamps (South Africa), Edward Loar (US), Prom Meesawat (Thailand), Eiji Mizuguchi (Japan), Cesar Monasterio (Argentina), Gareth Paddison (New Zealand), Chawalit Plaphol (Thailand), Jyoti Randhawa (India), Boonchu Ruangkit (Thailand), Zhang Lian-wei (China).

71 - Benoit Teilleria (France), Gregory Bourdy (France).

72 - Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Jean-Francois Lucquin (France).

74 - Marc Farry (France). -Reuters