Flesch and Leonard lead shootout

Steve Flesch and Justin Leonard carded a nine-under-par 63 to lead by one stroke from Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman after the first round of the Franklin Templeton Shootout in Florida.

Greg Norman and Scott McCarron and John Daly and Rory Sabbatini combined for seven-under 65s in the alternate-shot format.

Norman, playing for the first time since a recurring back problem flared up again in August, was delighted to be back.

The Australian former world number one said: “When I started hitting a few drives, I started feeling pretty good about it.”

Another former world number one, Nick Faldo, and his partner Fred Funk ended the day in 10th after a combined 70.

The 12 two-man teams play best ball in the second round and finish with a scramble on Sunday.