Thu Apr 24 07:07:33 2008

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O'Malley shoots 67 to lead Asian Open

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Shanghai, China (Sports Network) - Peter O'Malley shot a five-under 67 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the BMW Asian Open.

World No. 13 Henrik Stenson, the highest-ranked player in the field, led a group of four players who were tied for second place at four-under 68.

Mikko Ilonen, Jeev Milkha Singh and Oliver Wilson also shot 68, while Scott Hend was another stroke further back at three-under 69.

With the European Tour in China for the second straight week, Zhang Lian-Wei led the 18-player home charge with a two-under 70 that tied him with six other players for seventh place.

Overall, there were 50 players separated by just five shots at the top of the leaderboard, including 2005 U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell (71), five- time Ryder Cup player Darren Clarke (71), two-time British Open winner Greg Norman (71) and two-time U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen (72).

O'Malley, who missed the cut by two shots at last week's Volvo China Open, got off to a good start Thursday with birdies on his first two holes, the 10th and 11th at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.

He would post back-to-back birdies twice more in the round.

"I drove the ball beautifully," O'Malley said. "I had one green where I had to chip to and missed two more by a foot on the fringe, so my iron play was great as well and I couldn't find any fault with that."

Two more birdies at the 15th and 16th holes moved the 42-year-old Australian to four-under par, but O'Malley gave a stroke back before the turn with a bogey at the 18th, his only dropped shot of the round.

He went on to birdie the fifth and sixth holes to get to five-under and take the lead -- his seventh 18-hole lead on the European Tour.

O'Malley owns three European Tour titles, but none since the 2001 English Open. He's won twice on the Nationwide Tour since then, including the 2005 New Zealand PGA Championship.

"Every year I have a goal to win a tournament in Europe and Australia and a goal of getting into the top 50 in the world rankings. That is my goal every year," said O'Malley, who is currently ranked 171st in the world.

"I haven't done it for a number of years. To do that I have to win and I haven't won in Europe for seven years, so that is my goal this season."

Defending champion Raphael Jacquelin, who went wire-to-wire last year, opened with a one-over 71 and was part of a 20-way tie for 51st place.