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LOS ANGELES, Feb 20: America's Shaun Micheel and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama both shot seven-under-par rounds of 64 to share the first round lead at the Nissan Open on Thursday.
Hank Kuehne carded a 65 for sole possession of third place, one stroke ahead of defending champion Mike Weir of Canada, Australia's Robert Allenby, Fred Couples, Kirk Triplett and Scott McCarron.
World number one Tiger Woods could muster only a disappointing 72 and is well back in the field, tied for 77th place.
Leading first round scores:
64 Shigeki Maruyama, Shaun Micheel
65 Hank Kuehne
66 Kirk Triplett, Fred Couples, Mike Weir, Robert Allenby, Scott McCarron
67 Jeff Maggert, Woody Austin, Joe Ogilvie
68 Tim Petrovic, Carl Pettersson, Corey Pavin, Brenden Pappas, Bo Van Pelt, Mathias Gronberg, John Riegger, John Daly, Bob Tway
69 Steve Allan, Jesper Parnevik, K.J. Choi, Luke Donald, Carlos Franco, Thomas Bjorn
70 Aaron Baddeley, Stephen Ames, Craig Perks, Peter Lonard, Rory Sabbatini, Stuart Appleby
S. Korean shares lead
KUALA LUMPUR: Deaf South Korean Lee Sung-man was left sharing the lead when a tropical downpour brought a sudden halt to the second round of the Malaysian Open on Friday.
Lee, who has been deaf from birth and communicates by lip-reading through his father who travels with him, carded a four-under-par 68 to move to seven under and join Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant at the top of the leader board.
Ireland's Paul McGinley, with a round of 70, was tied for third with American Gregory Hanrahan who added a similar round of 70 to his opening 68 in the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event at the Saujana course in Kuala Lumpur.
The 24-year-old Lee, who has tried unsuccessfully the last four years to earn his US PGA Tour card, last month earned his 2004 Asian Tour card after finishing first at the qualifying school.
McGinley is striving for a first tour victory since the 2001 Welsh Open when he won in a sudden death playoff from Britons Paul Lawrie and Daren Lee after rain reduced the tournament to 36 holes.
The Irishman, who holed the winning putt in the 2002 Ryder Cup, managed four birdies in his round and said he is finally benefiting from new technology.
Second round scores
Note: Second round to resume on Saturday after heavy thunderstorms cut short Friday's play.
137 Lee Sung-man 69 68, Thaworn Wiratchant 70 67
138 Gregory Hanrahan 68 70, Paul McGinley 68 70
139 Thomas Levet 69 70, Prayad Marksaeng 70 69, Terry Price 66 73
140 Jamie Elson 66 74, Andrew Pitts 71 69
141 Marcus Fraser 69 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup 72 69. -Reuters
