29 May 2004	Saturday	09 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

WENTWORTH, May 28: Ernie Els shot an eight-under par 64, equalling his personal best for the course, in the first round of the Volvo PGA Championship on Thursday.

Els collected eight birdies, one of them a 35-foot pitch-in, with no dropped shots, and only missed a share of the West Course record by three-putting the long par-five fourth.

Spain's in-form player Miguel Angel Jimenez, already with three European Tour wins this season, shot a 65 to share second place with 2004 Madeira Island winner Christopher Hanell of Sweden and Stephen Dodd of Britain.

World number two Vijay Singh, who could be overtaken by Els in the rankings if the South African wins the tournament, birdied three of the last four holes, to finish on 66 and alone in fifth.

Both Els and Singh are edging closer to world number one Tiger Woods, who has led the rankings since 1999. Seven-time European number one Colin Montgomerie, who needs a top finish this week to return to the top-50 in the world and qualify automatically for next month's US Open, had an impressive run in after bogeys on the third and fourth.

He chipped in at the 12th for birdie and then holed out with a four-iron second shot from 194 yards for an eagle-two at the par-four 13th, before birdies on the last two holes for a 70. Fellow-Briton Darren Clarke's finish was also spectacular, with birdies on six of the last seven holes to lie only four shots off the lead on a four-under 68.

Leading first round scores (Britain unless stated):

64 - Ernie Els (South Africa).

65 - Stephen Dodd, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Christopher Hanell (Sweden).

66 - Scott Drummond, Vijay Singh (Fiji).

67 - Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), Ignacio Garrido (Spain), Richard Green (Australia), David Gilford, Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Justin Rose, Anders Hansen (Denmark), Andrew Coltart.

68 - Paul Casey, Anthony Wall, Joakim Haeggman (Sweden), Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands), Darren Clarke, Retief Goosen (South Africa), Ian Poulter, John Bickerton, Darren Fichardt (South Africa), Simon Khan.

TAYLOR LEADS

GERMANTOWN: Little-known Vaughn Taylor shot a five-under-par 66 to forge a one-shot lead after the first round of the St Jude Classic on Thursday. The 28-year-old Augusta native was one of the morning starters but still faced blustery conditions that made club selection difficult and dried out the fairways and greens at the TPC at Southwind.

Taylor holds the single-stroke advantage over defending champion David Toms and Paul Stankowski. Stewart Cink shares fourth place on 68 with China's Zhang Lian-wei and Japan's Hirofumi Miyase.

Brent Geiberger and Patrick Sheehan are tied for seventh, a further stroke behind. Twice major champion John Daly had an even-par round of 71 and is in joint 22nd place.

Leading first round scores (US unless stated):

66 - Vaughn Taylor.

67 - Paul Stankowski, David Toms.

68 - Stewart Cink, Zhang Lian-wei (China), Hirofumi Miyase (Japan).

69 - Brent Geiberger, Patrick Sheehan.

70 - Greg Chalmers (Australia), Todd Fischer, Tom Lehman, Ben Crane, Charles Howell III, J.J. Henry, Tripp Ishenhour, Rich Barcelo, Michael Bradley, Daniel Chopra (Sweden), Steve Allan (Australia), J.P. Hayes. -Reuters