LEMONT, July 2: PGA Tour veteran Loren Roberts, who turned 49 last month, hit a bogey-free, seven-under-par 64 to grab the lead after the first round of the Western Open on Thursday.

Australia's Robert Allenby, the winner here in 2000, was in second place on 65, two strokes ahead of British Open champion Ben Curtis, Chad Campbell, JL Lewis, Jonathan Byrd, Robert Gamez, Australia's Mark Hensby and Stephen Ames of Canada.

Among a large group of players on three-under 68 were former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson, South Korea's KJ Choi and Australian Geoff Ogilvy. World number one Tiger Woods returned a one-under 70 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club.

FIRST-ROUND SCORES

64 - Loren Roberts

65 - Robert Allenby

67 - Mark Hensby, Ben Curtis, Chad Campbell, Stephen Ames, J.L. Lewis, Jonathan Byrd, Robert Gamez

68 - Scott Simpson, Michael Allen, Dan Forsman, K.J. Choi, Chris Smith, Kevin Sutherland, Skip Kendall, Dean Wilson, David Branshaw, D.J. Brigman, Steve Lowery, Woody Austin, Geoff Ogilvy...

69 - Deane Pappas (RSA)

70 - Richard S. Johnson, Shigeki Maruyama, Tiger Woods

THREE SHARE LEAD

DUBLIN: Paul Broadhurst's five-under-par 67 gave him a share of the lead with Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and Australian Nick O'Hern after the first round of the 3.3-million-euro European Open on Thursday.

The 28-year-old Englishman hardly looked a likely winner of such a fight a week ago when he scored back-to-back 78s in the French Open and missed the halfway cut by seven.

FIRST ROUND SCORES:

67 Paul Broadhurst, Maarten Lafeber (NED), Nick O'Hern (AUS)

69 Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen (RSA), David Howell, Matthew Blackey, Jesus Maria Arruti (SPA)

70 Padraig Harrington, Richard Green (AUS), Bradley Dredge, Andrew Coltart, Paul McGinley, Niclas Fasth (SWE), Gary Evans

71 Stephen Gallacher, Martin Erlandsson (SWE), Jose Manuel Carriles (SPA), Peter Hedblom (SWE), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Francois Delamontagne (FRA), Henrik Stenson (SWE). -Agencies