Kang takes opening honours with 64

Korea's Kang Wook-soon, who delivered Asia's last victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open seven years ago, relived his glory days with an outstanding six-under-par 64 for the first round lead on Thursday.

The 39-year-old Kang eclipsed the stars from Europe with a sterling performance that included five consecutive birdies on his inward nine at the par-70 Hong Kong Golf Club. It was effectively a new course record due to recent upgrading to its Composite course.

Kang, a two-time Asian number one, leads the US$1.2 million championship, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, by one stroke from India 's Jyoti Randhawa, Canadian Rick Gibson and Sweden 's Martn Erlandsson.

Three-time US PGA Tour winner Choi Kyung-ju led the big guns with a 67 while Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, title holder Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain and Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, currently the Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, began their campaigns with matching 69s.

Last season's number one Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand was a stroke lower with a 68 but it was a struggle for England 's Paul Casey, last week's Volvo China Open champion, as he rallied with three late birdies to salvage a 74.

Kang had predicted earlier this week that it could be the year to stop the European monopoly at the UBS Hong Kong Open after his victory in 1998. And he rose magnificently to the challenge.

"I hit many good shots out there and my putting was also good. I'm really happy," said Kang. He was cruising at one-under through 12 holes before hitting his birdie streak from the 13th. He nailed a wedge to four feet for his second birdie of the day and then rolled in putts of 16 feet, 18 feet, 12 feet and nine feet for four more birdies.

"I had missed putts of six feet on 10 and 12. In Asia , the greens are a bit grainy and I was not used to it. I then started to read the greens a bit differently and looked back at my past successes here in Asia and the memories certainly helped me," said Kang, a seven-time winner on the Asian Tour.

He has scaled down on his overseas forays this season, the UBS Hong Kong Open is his first event in Asia in five months, but Kang is feeling confident again after spending summer working on his fitness with mountain treks.

"My condition is good. I'm starting to concentrate and focussing a bit better now and I'm feeling good about my game. During summer, I spent a lot of time doing mountain trekking back home. It takes about six to seven hours to get up and down the mountain which is 1700m (above sea level) and I did that about 10 times during summer. It's basically helped me get fitter and I've lost a bit of fat round the waist as well!"

After a summer plagued with injuries, Randhawa is hitting form once again as he enjoyed a six-birdie round to lead the chasing pack. The Indian star, Asia 's number one in 2002, finished ninth in the World Cup with Arjun Atwal two weeks ago and then tied seventh last week after using borrowed clubs for two rounds in China when his luggage got lost in transit.

"I feel comfortable with my swing. I've made some changes and I'm playing my fourth week in a row now and playing tournament golf gets you into a momentum. I'm pretty happy. I played well last week and I knew how to swing the golf club and had a bit of confidence. I made some good putts," said Randhawa, who is currently third on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Randhawa is not harbouring any hopes of winning a second merit title despite his solid start. "It's too early to say. I'm not thinking of finishing first or second or whatever. I just want to play the best that I can and take each day as it comes and see if I can play well through the week," he said.

After a three-week break to recharge the batteries, the 44-year-old Gibson bogeyed his opening hole and was wondering if he had taken too much time away from Tour. But four straight birdies from the fifth, thanks to a 35-foot birdie, got his round back on track.

"After bogeying the first, I thought three weeks off was too much. I just relaxed and made a nice putt for par on four from 12 feet. And then I birdied the next four. I think the par putt got me settled in," said Gibson.

Montgomerie didn't enjoy the best of starts as he attempts to live up to his star billing at the UBS Hong Kong Open, the penultimate event on the 2005 Asian Tour and third leg of the 2006 European Tour season.

After an opening birdie, an errant drive on the third hole saw him run up a double bogey seven but the man better known as Monty fought back with four more birdies on the card. "I did okay. I took seven up the third and if I made a four there I would have shot 66. So no big deal, three more rounds to go and so there is nothing wrong, three 65s and you never know," said Montgomerie, who recently claimed a record eighth European Order of Merit.

"Two over after three is not a great start and so it is nice to get back into red figures which is okay at the end of the day. That is it for me at the end of the day really, nothing much to report, you'd be far better off writing about Kang or Gibson or Randhawa or Erlandsson."

Thongchai kept up his late bid for a record third Order of Merit crown with a bogey-free round. Playing alongside Montgomerie and Choi, he holed a 25-foot par save at the last hole which brought a big smile to his face.

"That was a nice putt," said Thongchai, who finished the day one ahead of Thaworn. "I played quite solidly, especially on the back nine where I hit a lot of greens. I didn't drop a bogey and it's nice. You'll never know about the Order of Merit, so I'll just try to put in another good score tomorrow."

Leading first round scores

64 - Kang Wook-soon (KOR)

65 - Rick Gibson (CAN), Jyoti Randhawa ( IND ), Martin Erlandsson (SWE)

66 - Richard Mcevoy (ENG), Francois Delamontagne (FRA), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN)

67 - Marcus Both (AUS), Ian Garbutt (ENG), Scott Barr (AUS), Chris Williams (RSA), Choi K J (KOR), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Chang Tse-peng (TPE)

68 - James Kingston (RSA), Edward Loar (USA), Barry Lane (ENG), Gaurav Ghei (IND), Gary Murphy (IRL), Lin Keng-chi (TPE), Damien Mcgrane (IRL), Marc Cayeux (ZIM), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Kenneth Ferrie (ENG), Miles Tunnicliff (ENG), Adam Le Vesconte (AUS), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Pablo Del Olmo (MEX)

69 - Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL), Sam Little (ENG), Terry Pilkadaris (AUS), Robert-Jan Derksen (NDL), Miguel Angel Jiménez (ESP), Shiv Kapur (IND), David Higgins (IRL), Craig Kamps (RSA), Jason Dawes (AUS), Andrew Butterfield (ENG), Peter Gustafsson (SWE), Simon Yates (SCO), Colin Montgomerie (SCO), Thaworn Wiratchant (THA), Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), James Stewart (HKG)

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