LORENZO-VERA TAKES OPENING DAY
HONOURS AT VOLVO CHINA OPEN

Beijing, April 17: Unheralded Michael Lorenzo-vera of France set the early pace at the Volvo China Open when he fired a five-under-par 67 to take the first-round lead today.
China’s Li Chao gave the home crowd something to cheer about as he finished strongly as the leading Chinese player, taking a share of the second place with six others.
Asian Tour regulars, Simon Griffiths of England and Jason Knutzon of the United States, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands, Ireland’s Damien McGrane as well as England’s Zane Scotland and Richard Finch are all tied for second with Li on 68.
Despite playing in his rookie year on the European Tour, Lorenzo-vera is already showing signs of maturity on tour and coping well with the demands of the game.
The 23-year-old Frenchman got off to a shaky start with an opening bogey but got himself back into the game with a birdie on the second followed by another two more in the sixth and ninth holes before making the turn in 33.
“I am just enjoying my rookie year now. I am making better decisions and it is getting easier,” said Lorenzo-vera. “I just have to be more confident on what I am doing and I’m sure I’ll do well.”
Li meanwhile, got off to a slow start on his opening front nine when he posted a bogey on the 199 yards, par-three three and a single birdie on the ninth.
However, the 27-year old Chinese battled to a strong finish with four birdies after the turn to keep the Chinese flag flying.
“I did not get off to a good start, especially with my bogey on the third hole. But I managed to regain my composure and I think I did pretty well after that,” said Li.
“My putting was really good today and I think that really helped me a lot today,” added Li.
Knutzon, who had to endure a frustrating start to the season, having missed the cut in five of the six events that he has played on the Asian Tour so far, looks set to turn his fortunes around after recording a blemish free bogey round at the US$2.2 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and China Golf Association.
“I played a good, steady round of golf today. I had four birdies and no bogeys. I drove it well and hit a lot of good iron shots,” said the American, whose last victory on the Asian Tour was in Indonesia last season.
“I always want to win tournaments and I’ve been happy enough to win twice on the tour. Hopefully those victories are not going to come once every few years. It will be nice if it can happen every year!” added Knutzon.
Griffiths seems to be running away with the lead, especially with his blistering run of four birdies and an eagle two on his opening front nine.
The Englishman, however, could not sustain the momentum and surrendered his lead after recording three successive bogeys starting from the 13th.
“It was a very strange round. I was very happy to go out in 29 on the turn but it was a very disappointing back nine,” said Griffiths.
“I was just on the edge of the par-5 13th in three and knocked up it to four feet but missed. The 14th was a very tough hole so that was a bogey and then the next hole was also a disappointing one as I had a poor second shot which found the bunker,” added Griffiths.
Defending champion Markus Brier carded a 71 to finish tied for 18th while home favourite Liang Wen-chong, who had been attracting the large galleries at the Beijing CBD International Golf Course posted a 73 to take a share of the 42th place.
“It’s really nice to see the home fans following me throughout the day. I’ll try my best to put in a stronger performance tomorrow so as to make all of them, including myself happy,” said Liang.

FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
67 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra).
68 Li Chao (Chn), Damien McGrane (Ire), Simon Griffiths (Eng), Jason Knutzon (US), Zane Scotland (Eng), Joost Luiten (Net),Richard Finch (Eng).
69 Airil Rizman (Mas), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind)
70 Julio Zapata (Arg), John Bickerton (Eng), Miles Tunnicliff (Eng), Wu Kang-chun (Chn), Robert-Jan Derksen (Net).
Other scores:
71 Rhys Davies (Wal), Paul Lawrie (Sco).
72 David Howell (Eng), Simon Yates (Sco).
73 Peter Whiteford (Sco), Ross Bain (Sco), Graeme McDowell (Ire).
76 Andrew Coltart (Sco).