Derksen takes clubhouse lead

Dutch golfer Robert-Jan Derksen carded an eight-under-par 64 to take the clubhouse lead midway through the opening round of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth today.

Derksen fired eight birdies in a bogey-free round at The Vines Resort and Country Club to finish the morning a shot ahead of Mardan Mamat of Singapore and two in front of Ireland's Damien McGrane and English pair of Lee Westwood and John Bickerton.

New Zealand amateur leader Danny Lee carded a five-under 67 to join Ireland's Peter Lawrie, Spain's Ignacio Garrido, Clint Rice of Australia and Hiroyuki Fujita in a tie for sixth.

Derksen managed only one birdie on his first seven holes but the Dutchman reeled off four consecutive birdies from the eighth to 11th to move to five-under.

He missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 14th but made up for that by holing a 25-footer at the next to begin a run of three birdies in the final four holes.

The 64 was the lowest ever round for Derksen on the European Tour and helped to alleviate the disappointment of missing the cut at the Maybank Malaysian Open last week.

"It's a good start and it's always nice to have - it's as simple as that - but there's a lot of golf to be played," said Derksen, who has not won on the European Tour since the 2005 Madeira Island Open.

"It's a very difficult course. There are a lot of easy holes and I made three par-fives in two today, but if you're slightly off, you can make some big numbers.

"The wind is a factor so it's still a long way to go."

Mardan, the 2006 Singapore Masters champion, paid tribute to his caddie Drew Dubberlin after his round which also saw him birdie his last three holes as he finished his opening round just a shot behind Derksen on seven-under.

"I called him this week because he has lived here before and knows this course better than I do," said the 41-year-old.

"He knows where to put the ball, the pin positions and how to read the lines. There's less of a job for me on the golf course and I can just focus on hitting the golf ball.

"I'm a little stubborn but I do listen to his advice."

Westwood put himself into contention with a strong finish to his round after the world number 12 struggled initially coming back to birdie four of his last seven holes.

"I started off hitting a couple of poor shots, a couple of pulls and got away with one but I corrected the fault," said Westwood.

"That's what I've been good at doing the last couple of years - correcting things pretty quickly - and I started hitting good shots after that and I played well for the last 12 holes."

World number nine Camilo Villegas of Colombia holed an eagle at his final hole to finish the round on level-par 72 but Greg Norman struggled with his putter as he posted a three-over 75.

"I actually felt pretty good. I putted terribly but that's about it," said the former world number one who double-bogeyed the par-five third.

"Seventy-five is a bit of a shock to me but that's my score and I've got to take it.

"I better shoot 66 tomorrow. That's all I can say."