Jyoti Randhawa birdied his last two holes to claim the clubhouse lead during the first round of the Hong Kong Open as Nicolas Colsaerts’ fine form continued.
India’s Randhawa stormed home in a five under 31 for a six under par 64 at Hong Kong Golf Club, one ahead of Filipino Angelo Que, a three-time winner on the co-sanctioning Asian Tour.
“For me it’s really awesome,” said Randhawa, who fired his approach to five feet at the 17th and sank a 15 footer at the last.
“Today I really putted my heart out so I’m very happy with the way it went.”
Big-hitting Colsaerts, who finished fourth in Wales and second in Portugal on his last two starts, carded five birdies and a single bogey in his four under par 66 to sit third in the clubhouse.
After turning two under par, former Ryder Cup star Colsaerts bogeyed the long third after driving into trees down left, his ball finishing in a puddle from where he could only hack across the fairway into more rough.
But that set-back seemed to spur the Belgian, who holed putts of 20 and 30 feet on the next two for birdie, and a superb tee shot to the eighth set up a tap-in gain.
“You need to play well to shoot any sort of score under par,” said Colsaerts. “From tee to green you need to be pretty good to leave yourself birdie chances.
“I’m quite happy with my score.
“I’m waking up in the middle of the night – I didn’t do a very good job with the jetlag so I think I’m going to be waking up early most of the week but it’s fine.
With only this event and next week’s ISPS HANDA Perth International left for players to climb into the top 110 on The Race to Dubai and keep their cards, Swede Rikard Karlberg and Australian Scott Hend – who started the week 123rd and 149th respectively – boosted their chances as both carded three under par rounds of 67.
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jiménez, looking to win this tournament for a record fifth time, shot a two over par 72, while four-time Major winner Ernie Els was among the later starters and level par through two holes.
