Thu May 15 15:14:56 2008

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Green, Singh share Irish Open lead

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Adare, Limerick, Ireland (Sports Network) - Richard Green and Jeev Milkha Singh opened with matching rounds of six-under-par 66 Thursday to share the lead after the first round of the Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort.

Green and Singh are both two-time winners on the European Tour with Green winning most recently last year at the BA-CA Golf Open.

Marcel Siem dropped a shot at the last to card a four-under-par 68 and share third place with Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors and Michael Lorenzo-Vera.

Green started on the back nine and opened with a birdie at the 10th. He flew up the leaderboard with three straight birdies from the 14th.

The Australian stumbled to a bogey on the first, but recovered that lost stroke with a birdie at the fifth.

Green got within one of the lead as he birdied No. 7. At the par-five closing hole, Green kicked in a short birdie putt to join Singh in the lead.

"I think the focus was pretty good today, that was the key," Green stated. "I just focused very hard on concentrating and it worked out pretty well. I hit some pretty nice iron shots, which kind of surprised me a little bit because my iron play hasn't been that great the first half of the year."

Singh also played the back nine first. He opened with five straight pars before converting birdie efforts on the 15th and 16th.

Around the turn, he moved to three-under with a birdie on the par-four first. Singh sank his fourth birdie of the round at the par-four fifth.

Singh eagled the par-five seventh to jump into the lead at six-under. He parred his final two holes, including a 40-foot par saving putt after knocking his third into the bushes near the ninth green.

"When I saw the ball, I knew the first thing was to go to the referee and make sure that I could take a stance without breaking any rules because there was a chance of being penalized," said Singh. "That's why I called the official in there, and he told me the way to get in there without touching anything.

"I was just trying to chip it out from there and it came out perfect. I missed the hole and went to about 40 feet away; I was happy with that. And that's the story of the day really -- I made a lot of great up and downs today."

S.S.P. Chowrasia, the Indian Masters winner, shot a three-under 69 in the opening round and was joined in seventh place by Lee S. James and Alvaro Velasco, who were both celebrating their birthday on Thursday.

Defending champion Padraig Harrington opened with an even-par 72 and is tied for 30th place.