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April 20, 2012

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Baldwin has one-shot Tianjin lead

MATTHEW Baldwin of England took advantage of calm early conditions to shoot a 7-under 65 yesterday and lead by one stroke after the first round of the China Open in Tianjin.

Baldwin, who graduated from Europe's second-tier Challenge Tour last year, said he was also helped by the tee and flag placements.

"The conditions were a lot calmer when I played then when we played a practice round early in the week," he said. "Then, I thought shooting four 72s around this course would be very good. But they did move some of the tees forward and some of the pins were very generous which helped the score."

Joost Luiten of the Netherlands, Gary Boyd of England, Australian Scott Strange, Frenchman Jean Baptiste Gonnet, Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden and South Africa's Jbe Kruger are next.

Of those, only Kruger played after lunchtime when a strong wind started to blow across the flat and exposed Binhai Lake course near Beijing.

Former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie of Scotland shot a 68 for his best round this year.

Defending champion Nicolas Colsearts of Belgium and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen are at 4 under.

There was no fairytale start for Guan Tianlang of China, who at 13 years, 173 days made history by becoming the youngest player at a European Tour event.

Playing when the wind was at its highest, Guan started with a bogey and was 5 over after six holes. However, he finished the last 12 holes in level par to shoot a 77.

In Jakarta, defending champion Lee Westwood shot a 7-under 65 yesterday to take a two-shot lead after the first round of the Indonesian Masters.

Arnond Vongvanij of Thailand shot a bogey-free 67 to sit second. A group of six golfers were another shot back in a tie for third, including Indian duo Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur.

 

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