Randhawa outshines Woods

Shanghai, Nov 9 (UNI) Jyoti Randhawa stole a march over the likes of Tiger Woods and earned a one-shot lead with a scintillating, flawless opening round of seven-under 65 in the five million dollar HSBC Champions here today.

Randhawa, who landed here after winning back-to-back titles in the Indian Open and the BILT Open back home, played near-perfect golf and reeled off a whopping seven birdies -- four in his front nine and three more on his way back -- to stay one-shot ahead of the Michael Campbell, Yang Yong-eun and Marc Warren trio.

World number one Tiger Woods struggled to a level-par 72 at the Sheshan International Golf Course.

Describing it as his best round of the career, Randhawa said, ''I played the way the course is supposed to be played. I took my chances when I could and played safely at other times.'' Guarding against complacence, the Indian said, ''They're great players and it's not over yet, there are three rounds to go. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.'' Among his compatriots, Jeev Milkha Singh returned two-under 70 to finish tied 15th.

Jeev, 10th tee starter, shot three birdies in a row from his fifth hole but found the water on the 18th. The Indian took a drop and recovered his par with a 14-foot downhill putt to stay on one-under halfway through his round.

As he resumed journey. Jeev dropped a shot on the sixth but a pair of birdies kept him on the track.

Fellow Indian Shiv Kapur's one-under 71 saw the Delhi talent finish tied 18th after mixing three birdies and a couple of bogeys in his opening round.

Seasoned Gaurav Ghei, the other Indian in fray, returned a level-par round, which included four bogeys and as many birdies, to finish tied 27th, along with Woods and others.

Leading opening round scores: 65: Jyoti Randhawa (India) 66: Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Marc Warren (Britain), Yong-Eun Yang (South Korea) 67: Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Chawalit Plaphol (Thailand) 68: John Bickerton (Britain), Alejandro Canizares (Spain), K J Choi (South Korea), Johan Edfors (Sweden), Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69: Chris DiMarco (US), Colin Montgomerie (Britain), Peter O'Malley (Australia) 70: Luke Donald (Britain), Jeev Milkha Singh (India), Scott Strange (Australia) 71: Markus Brier (Austria), Bradley Dredge (Britain), Darren Fichardt (South Africa), Anton Haig (South Africa), Shiv Kapur (India), Alan McLean (Britain), Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Ter-Chang Wang (Taiwan) 72: Steven Bowditch (Australia), Stephen Dodd (Britain), Gaurav Ghei (India), Francesco Molinari (Italy), Nick O'Hern (Australia), Chinarat Phadungsil (Thailand), Ian Poulter (Britain), Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Tadahiro Takayama (Japan), Tiger Woods (US), Lian-Wei Zhang (China) UNI XC AY PDS PM1618