The Hindu : Sport : Jyoti Randhawa leads the pack

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Friday, Nov 10, 2006
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Jyoti Randhawa leads the pack

Tiger Woods has an unimpressive opening day

SHANGHAI: Tiger Woods missed opportunities on his first day at work in five weeks and was even-par 72 after the first round at the HSBC Championship, seven shots off the pace.

India's Jyoti Randhawa took his chances on Thursday, making seven birdies in a 7-under 65 for a one-stroke lead over a group of three including 2005 U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell.

New Zealander Campbell was level at 6-under with Scotland's Marc Warren and South Korea's Yang Yong-eun. Padraig Harrington, who clinched the 2006 European Order of Merit title at Valderrama, Spain two weeks ago, was a stroke further back with Thailand's Plaphol Chawalit.

Hope for the better

The Asian Tour No. 1 Jeev Singh of India, who was in Woods' group, was at 2-under.

Woods, who finished one stroke better than Jim Furyk, who had five bogeys and four birdies in a 1-over 73, started with a birdie at the 10th and followed it with a double-bogey 6 after hooking his drive into some trees.

``It throws the momentum off in the wrong direction,'' Woods said. ``Tomorrow I hope to get off to a better start.''

Woods made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes — his 11th and 12th — to move to 2-under, but had a bogey at the par-5 eighth, pushing a fairway wood into rocks and water trying to reach the green in two.

``Very frustrating,'' he said.

Equal to a Major

Randhawa rated the $5 million (euro3.9 million) tournament — the first of the 2007 season on the European Tour and jointly sanctioned by the PGAs in Asia, Australasia and South Africa — almost equal to a Major.

``It was one of the biggest rounds of my career — a big tournament, big players,'' he said. ``So to be leading gives me great pleasure.''

Randhawa, who won the Indian Open after a three-way playoff last month, said he tried to ignore the hype.

``It's great to have gotten a good round in a field like this — especially with Tiger Woods (but) I try not to think about that — it might break my rhythm.''

Federer's presence

Woods had a few distractions, with the shutters of camera lenses and ringing of mobile phones in the gallery often during his swing and the presence of tennis No. 1 Roger Federer in the crowd.

Federer is in Shanghai for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, which starts on Sunday, and decided to return a gesture to Woods. The legendary golfer was there when the Swiss star won the U.S. Open in September.

Leading first round scores: 65 - Jyoti Randhawa (Ind); 66 - Michael Campbell (NZ), Yang Yong-eun (Kor), Marc Warren (Sco); 67 - Padraig Harrington (Irl), Chawalit Plaphol (Tha); 68 - Retief Goosen (RSA), K.J. Choi (Kor), Johan Edfors (Swe), John Bickerton (Eng), Alejandro Canizares (Esp); 69 - Peter O'Malley (Aus), Colin Montgomerie (Sco), Chris Dimarco (U.S.); 70 - Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Luke Donald (Eng), Scott Strange (Aus); 71 - Bradley Dredge (Wal), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Darren Fichardt (RSA), Anton Haig (RSA), Camilo Villegas (Col), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Alan Mclean (Sco), Wang Ter-chang (Tpe), Markus Brier (Aus); 72 - Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Nick O'Hern (Aus), Ian Poulter (Eng), Tiger Woods (U.S.), Zhang Lian-wei (Chn), Steven Bowditch (Aus), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Tadahiro Takyama (Jpn), Stephen Dodd (Wal), Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha), Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 - David Howell (Eng), Paul Casey (Eng), Anthony Wall (Eng), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Jim Furyk (U.S.), Gregory Bourdy (Fra). — PTI

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