HONG KONG, Dec 1: South Korean Kang Wook-soon left some of Europe’s top players in his wake by shooting a six-under-par 64 for a one-stroke first round lead at the Hong Kong Open on Thursday. Briton Colin Montgomerie and defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain both shot modest 69s to lie five shots off the pace at the $1.2 million event, which is jointly sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

Wook-soon shot six bogies, including five in a row to the 17th hole, to get an excellent start to a tournament he won in 1998.

One shot behind Kang were Martin Erlandsson of Sweden, Jyoti Randhawa of India and Canadian Rick Gibson. England’s Richard McEvoy, Frenchman Francois Delamontange and Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark are a further stroke behind.

Leading scores:

64 - Kang Wook-soon (KOR)

65 - Martin Erlandsson (SWE), Jyoti Randhawa (IND), Rick Gibson (CAN)

66 - Francois Delamontagne (FRA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Richard McEvoy (ENG) 67 - Chang Tse-peng (TPE), Chris Williams (RSA), Scott Barr (AUS), K.J. Choi (KOR), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Marcus Both (AUS), Ian Garbutt (ENG)

68 - Marc Cayeux (ZIM), Adam Le Vesconte (AUS), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Pablo Del Olmo (MEX), Gary Murphy (IRL), Lin Keng-chi (TPE), Thongchai Jaidee, Kenneth Ferrie (ENG), Miles Tunnicliff (ENG), Damien McGrane (IRL), Barry Lane (ENG), Gaurav Ghei (IND), James Kingston (RSA), Edward Loar (USA)

Sun City scores

SUN CITY (South Africa): Leading scores after the first round of the Sun City Golf Challenge played on Thursday.