Lee leads the Scots with a 70 in China

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

England’s David Howell was pleased to continue his excellent start to the year as he grabbed a share of the first-round lead alongside Welshman Bradley Dredge and New Zealand’s Michael Hendry at the Volvo China Open today.

Already a runner-up in Johannesburg this season and fourth in last week’s Shenzhen International, the former Ryder Cup star compiled a four-under par round of 68 at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, in the world’s most populous city, to join Dredge and Hendry at the top of the leaderboard.

Whilst both Dredge and Hendry, who is going for back-to-back wins after his victory in Japan last week, produced flawless rounds in the morning, 39 year old Howell had to contend with a slight breeze in the afternoon and an opening birdie was cancelled out by a dropped shot at the third.

Having reached red figures again with a gain at the ninth, Howell converted a chance from eight feet at the 11th, chipped to two feet at the 13th, and saved the best for last by holing a 40-footer on the 17th for his fifth and final birdie of the day.

France’s Alex Levy opened the defence of his title with a round of 69 to share third place with his compatriot Julien Quesne and Australian Marcus Fraser.
Chinese teenager Li Hao-tong, who lost out in a play-off to Kiradech Aphibarnrat in Shenzhen last week, continued his fine form with an opening round of 71.

Key quotes
David Howell: “There was a bit of a breeze at the start of the round, but the main challenge is the firmness of the greens. The whole course is very firm to be honest, so keeping your ball in play is a real challenge.  But the course is in great condition, and I like courses where you have to think your way round rather than just standing on the tee and blasting it. 

"My caddie said it’s almost like a links course, the way it’s playing. It couldn’t be less like a links course in some ways, because it’s in the middle of the city. But in terms of ground conditions it is a similar challenge to a links course, with lots of putting from off the greens.

Bradley Dredge: “I’m very pleased indeed with that. The greens are extremely firm, so you really need to hit the fairways to stand any chance of getting it close to the pin with your approach shots. Plus the greens are very slopey in places, which also makes life difficult. So 68 is a very good score.”      

Michael Hendry: “I’m obviously in pretty good form at the minute, I found it quite tough at the start of the week to get my energy levels back up to where I’d like them to be, because I was quite tired from my efforts last week. But I rested up as much as I could, and I felt pretty fresh when I came out here this morning.

“Winning takes away a lot of the worries and doubts you naturally have sometimes. It definitely puts a bit of a spring in your step, and I think that showed today. Golf’s a funny game like that. You can spend a lot of time out of form, then suddenly something clicks into place and you’re off and running again. But there’s no way of telling how long it’ll last, so you really have to make the most of it.”

SCOTSWATCH. On a day when the average score was 74.9 and only six broke 70, Craig Lee is the leading Scot with a 70 for a T7 position. Richie Ramsay is T25 on 72 and Paul Lawrie had a 73 for T41.


FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD

68 D Howell (Eng) , M Hendry (Nzl) , B Dredge (Wal)
69 M Fraser (Aus) , A Levy (Fra) , J Quesne  (Fra)
70 O Wilson (Eng) , J Carlsson (Swe) , I Park (Kor) , P Uihlein  (USA) , S Kapur (Ind) , T Pieters  (Bel) , B Hebert  (Fra) , C Lee (Sco)
71 L Hao-Tong (Chn) , M Korhonen (Fin) , H Shao-Cai (Chn) , S Hend (Aus) , S Strange (Aus) , J Lando Casanova  (Fra) , R Carter (USA) , M Manassero (Ita) , K Aphibarnrat (Tha) , R Gibson (Aus) ,
72 B An (SKor) , A Johnston (Eng) , R Ramsay  (Sco) , T Fleetwood  (Eng) , S Jeffress (Aus) , N Cullen (Aus) , R Wattel  (Fra) , D Horsey (Eng) , Z Jin (Chn) , M Foster (Eng) , P Meesawat  (Tha) , C Yi (Chn) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , J Lee (Aus) , K Broberg (Swe) , D McGrane (Irl)
73 E Grillo (Arg) , C Wood  (Eng) , W Ashun (Chn) , R Fox (Nzl) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , A Noren  (Swe) , M Ilonen  (Fin) , G Stal  (Fra) , A Cañizares  (Esp) , A Wall (Eng) , P Lawrie (Sco) , J Higginbottom (Aus) , M Nixon (Eng) , H Choi (SKor) , M Kieffer (Ger) , O Fisher  (Eng) , R Rock (Eng) , J Morrison  (Eng) , R Green (Aus) , M Carlsson  (Swe) , H Ryu (Kor) , A Quiros  (Esp)
 74 M Ford (Eng) , R Bland (Eng), R Paratore (Ita), J Edfors (Swe) , L Chao (Chn) , T Lee (SKor) , G Flint (Aus) , W Ormsby (Aus) , S Hutsby  (Eng) , B Kim (SKor) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , E Espana (Fra) , G Bourdy (Fra)
 75 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , Z Xin-Jun (Chn) , E Pepperell (Eng) , D Jang (SKor) , H Wen-Yi (Chn) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , T Fisher Jnr (RSA) , W Weijun (Chn) , M Brown (Nzl) , T Hatton (Eng) , C Xiao-Ma (Chn) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , S Hansen (Den) , S Benson (Eng) , G Storm  (Eng) , Y Bin (Chn) , D Drysdale (Sco) , Y Tian (Chn) , D Fichardt (RSA) , R Karlsson (Swe) , T Khrongpha (Tha) , J Van Zyl (RSA) , L Bjerregaard  (Den) , M Griffin (Aus) , J Cheng (Chn) , G Tian-Lang (Chn)
 76 M Lundberg (Swe) , C Zi-Hao (Chn) , R Finch  (Eng) , R Dillon (USA) , M Crespi  (Ita) , L Xin-Yang (Chn) , M Hoey  (Nir) , T Lewis (Eng) , G Havret  (Fra) , S Chawrasia (Ind) , M Tullo (Chi) , S Kim (SKor) , N Colsaerts  (Bel) , M Madsen  (Den) , R Fisher (Eng)
 77 A Dodt (Aus) , L Yan-Wei (Chn) , Z Lianwei (Chn) , S Dong (Chn) , E Molinari  (Ita) , D Ze-Cheng (Chn) , S Park (SKor) , C Lee (SKor) , O Zheng (Chn) , B Proverbs (am) (Aus)
 78 D Bransdon (Aus) , D Brooks (Eng) , J Campillo (Esp) , P Hanson (Swe) , C Doak (Sco) , D Lipsky (USA), Z Guo-Wu (Chn) , H Ze-Yu (Chn) , N Fasth (Swe)
 79 L Slattery (Eng) , H Mu (Chn) , G Mulroy (RSA) , J Kruger (RSA) , Z Chang-Lei (Chn) , R Santos  (Por) , S Jamieson  (Sco) , S Dodd (Wal) , W Wei-Huang (Chn)
 80 F Aguilar (Chi) , B Lein (USA) , J Park (SKor)
 82 Z Xiongyi (Chn) , X Bowen (Chn) , L Ting (am) (Tpe)
 83 D Chen Xiao (Chn)
 84 M Lampert (Ger)
 85 L Xin (Chn)
 86 S Nan-Nan (Chn) , S Zihan (Chn)
 88 J Palmer (Eng)