SAN ROQUE (Spain), April 15: Spaniard Jose Rivero was a surprise front-runner of the Spanish Open first round on Thursday, the 49-year-old former Ryder Cup player mastering windy conditions. Rivero joins the European seniors tour in September but he headed the youngsters at San Roque, the European Tour qualifying-school course, with a solid round of two-under-par 70.

That earned him a share of a one-shot lead with compatriots Santiago Luna and Diego Borrego, Italy’s Emanuele Canonica, Briton Steven O’Hara and Swedes Peter Hanson and Peter Gustafsson.

Leading first round scores:

70 - Emanuele Canonica (ITA), Jose Rivero (ESP), Peter Hanson (SWE), Santiago Luna (ESP), Peter Gustafsson (SWE), Diego Borrego (ESP), Steven O’Hara

71 - Marco Bernardini (ITA), Oskar Bergman (SWE), Philip Walton, Hennie Otto (RSA), Miguel Angel Martin (ESP), Peter Lawrie

72 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Jarmo Sandelin (SWE), Carlos Rodiles (ESP), Paul Lawrie, Andrew Marshall, Andrea Maestroni (ITA), Simon Wakefield, Mark Foster, Ben Mason, Johan Axgren (SWE), Malcolm Mackenzie, Adam Mednick (SWE), Ian Garbutt, Jose Manuel Carriles (ESP), David Park, Robert Karlsson (SWE), Martin Maritz (RSA), Fernando Roca (ESP), Stuart Little

Webb, Ward share lead

LAS VEGAS (Nevada): Australian Karrie Webb and American Wendy Ward fired first-round 65s here on Thursday share the lead at the 1.1 million-dollar Takefuji Classic, first stop on the LPGA tour since the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Leading first-round scores:

65 - Wendy Ward, Karrie Webb (AUS)

66 - Wendy Doolan (AUS), Catriona Matthew (GBR), Mi Hyun Kim (KOR), Nicole Perrot (CHI), a-In-Bee Park (KOR)

67 - Mikaela Parmlid (SWE), Sophie Gustafson (SWE), Aree Song (KOR)

68 - Amy Hung (TPE), Il Mi Chung (KOR), Heather Daly-Donofrio, Heather Bowie, Shi Hyun Ahn (KOR), Patricia Meunier-Lebouc (FRA), Marisa Baena (COL)

69 - Tina Fischer (GER), Liselotte Neumann (SWE).—Agencies