GOLF: South Korea's Ted Oh upstaged a jet-lagged Colin Montgomerie and John Daly to take the first-round lead at the $1 million TCL Classic in Dongguan, China, yesterday.
Oh, who shot to prominence as the youngest player to qualify for the US Open as a 16-year-old in 1993, fired five birdies and no bogeys on his way to a five-under-par 67.
Paul McGinley was four shots off the lead following a round of 71.
Montgomerie rattled in four birdies and two bogeys to join Daly in the clubhouse with a two-under 70. Starting on the 10th, Montgomerie opened with two early birdies to move to two-under, but dropped a shot when his pushed three-iron plunged into a bunker guarding the right of the green on the 13th.
His best shot of the day came on the first hole, his 10th, when a nine-iron approach nestled a foot from the cup.
Another birdie followed on the monstrous, 600-yard par-five fourth to move him to three-under.
Montgomerie failed to capitalise on numerous other birdie opportunities from inside 15 feet and dropped a shot on his penultimate hole.
Leading scores (10 players failed to finish due to darkness): 67 - Ted Oh (Kor) 68 - Chung Joon (Kor), Eddie Lee (Nzl) Zaw Moe (Myn), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Charlie Wi (Kor), Lee Westwood (Eng), Gerald Rosales (Phi) 69 - Chris Williams (Eng), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Jim Johnson (USA), Danny Zarate (Phi), Wang Ter-chang (Tpe), Rick Gibson (Can) 70 - John Daly (USA), Zhang Lian-wei (Chn), Colin Montgomerie (Sco), Dean Alaban (Aus), Kyi Hla Han (Myn), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Craig Kamps (Rsa), Ted Purdy (USA), Rafael Ponce (Ecu) Selected Others: 71 - Paul McGinley (Irl), Andrew Coltart (Sco), Simon Yates (Sco) 73 - Michael Campbell (Nzl), Carlos Franco (Par).
