Els eases into lead

Ernie Els took over at the top of the leaderboard after finishing his first round at the Barclays Singapore Open this morning with two birdies in his final three holes.

The South African trailed clubhouse leader Lam Chih Bing of Singapore by one stroke with four holes to play when darkness ended play at Sentosa Golf Club yesterday evening with half of the field yet to complete their opening rounds.

The ’Big Easy’ spurned an opportunity to draw level with Lam on four under when he missed a birdie putt on the 15th with his first stroke of the day.

But birdies at the 16th and 18th saw Els card a five-under-par 66 as he moved into first place in the US dollars 5million Asian Tour event.

“I’m pleased with that,” said Els. “I putted nicely and hit the ball okay.

“It’s not an easy course. If you miss shots, you’ll pay the price. I felt comfortable with the swing and I’m pretty pleased with the start.

“We were on the 15th green (when play stopped yesterday) and I missed the putt this morning. I made birdie on 16 and had a good one on 18 after laying up.

“I have shaved a lot of them. I’m not complaining and it was a nice round.”

Lam remained in second place after shooting a four-under 67 at the Serapong course yesterday while Marcus Both was in third place on three under.

Nick Redfern birdied his final hole to move up to two under, joining English compatriot Simon Dyson, Sweden’s Daniel Chopra, Korea’s Kim Kyung-tae and South Africa’s Keith Horne in a tie for fourth.

Oliver Rodgers was in a good position overnight on three under through 12 holes but three bogeys on his final six holes saw him drop back to level par.

World number five Padraig Harrington bogeyed his final hole yesterday for a one-over 72 while world number three Phil Mickelson overcame a poor start to shoot a 73.