GLENEAGLES, June 11: Nick O'Hern continued his double mission to claim his first European Tour title and a British Open place when he took a share of the lead in the storm affected first round at the Diageo Championship on Thursday.
A five-under-par 67 in difficult conditions at the PGA Centenary course earned the Australian left-hander a share of the lead with Britain's Miles Tunnicliff after play was held up for nearly three hours due to poor weather.
Tournament favourite Colin Montgomerie, opting to switch back to a normal putter in preference to the belly-putter, lay two-over-par after seven holes but eased back into contention with a good finish for a 71.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES:
67 - Nick O'Hern (Australia), Miles Tunnicliff.
68 - Paul McGinley (Ireland), Luna Santiago (Spain).
69 - Richard Green (Australia), Graeme McDowell, Patrik Sjoland (Sweden).
70 - Peter Baker, Matthew Blackey, Russell Claydon, Chris Kelly, Gordon Law, Gary Murphy (Ireland), Carlos Rodiles (Spain), Mark Roe, Brett Rumford (Australia), Sven Struver (Germany), Craig Williams,
71 - Ian Garbutt, Mark King, Euan Little, David Lynn, Colin Montgomerie, Mattias Nilsson (Sweden), Peter O'Malley (Australia), Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Paul Streeter, Philip Walton (Ireland).
SINGH STRIKES
HARRISON: Fiji's Vijay Singh put on an impeccable display of course management to forge a one-shot lead over Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson after the first round of the Buick Classic on Thursday.
Singh put together an eight-under-par 63 at the Westchester Country Club to tie the best opening round in tournament history.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES:
63 - Vijay Singh (Fiji).
64 - Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden).
66 - David Frost (South Africa).
67 - Fred Couples, Luke Donald (Britain), Jonathan Byrd, Loren Roberts, Peter Lonard (Australia), Kris Cox, Dudley Hart, Robert Damron, Roger Tambellini.
68 - David Toms, Brad Faxon, Joey Sindelar, Davis Love III, Cameron Beckman, Carlos Franco (Paraguay), Tim Clark (South Africa), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Bo Van Pelt, Skip Kendall, Kevin Sutherland, Ernie Els (South Africa), Billy Mayfair, J.J. Henry, Scott Hend (Australia). -Reuters
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