Jakarta: The wet and windy conditions at the Cengkareng Golf Club could not dampen Jeev Milkha Singh's game and the Indian got off to an impressive start with a five-under 65 that had him tied third after the first round of the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open today.

Australia's David Bransdon and Joost Luiten of The Netherlands carded identical rounds of 64 to share the lead as rain did not allow 42 other players to complete their rounds.

They will return early tomorrow to complete the first round in the $1.2 million co-sanctioned event between the Asian Tour and European Tour. Joining Jeev at tied third were Liang Wen-Chong, Prayad Marksaeng, Juan Abbate, Kyron Sullivan, Philip Golding and Felipe Aguilar.

Determined to erase the poor memories of last week's Indian Masters in Delhi where he failed to make the cut, Jeev ignited his title charge with a solid ball-striking display, closing his round with a birdie on the final hole.

Playing the back nine first, Jeev parred the 10th before unleashing a birdie hat-trick to take the turn at three-under.

On the way back, he dropped a shot on the third hole but made amends with birdies on the sixth, seventh and ninth to finish just one shot adrift of the joint leaders.

"I'm not really thinking about it (winning). I'm just going to go through my process, follow my routine and see what comes my way," said the Indian after his round.

"I have started very well which is encouraging but we will have to wait and see what happens over the next three days," Jeev added.
Source : PTI