Brown joins McIlroy at top of leaderboard

Rory McIlroy continued to hold onto the clubhouse lead at the UBS Hong Kong Open today but New Zealand’s Mark Brown was making a solid bid to usurp him as the opening round headed towards a close.

McIlroy, bidding for a first win on the European Tour in over 18 months, teed off in the morning and made the most of near perfect conditions at Hong Kong Golf Club by collecting eight birdies against just one bogey to finish with a seven under 63 and claim a one-stroke lead over England’s Simon Dyson.