PERTH, Australia — Alejandro Canizares shot a 7-under 65 Thursday to share a one-stroke lead with Michael Hendry after the opening round of the Perth International. Canizares had seven birdies in a bogey-free round at Lake Karrinyup to take the early lead before Hendry put together five birdies on his second nine to join him. Emiliano Grillo is one stroke behind the leaders, with Paul Casey and Andrew Johnson a further shot back at 67. Charl Schwartzel and Jason Dufner finished tied for 29th with 16 other players at 1 under. Canizares, who won the last of his five European Tour titles in 2006, chipped in at the short No. 8 for his fourth and final birdie of the front nine. He then made three on the back nine. “It was a good round,” the Spaniard said. “I hit the ball really well and made some putts, so I'm really happy. “I played pretty steady the whole round and gave myself plenty of chances. I think I only missed two greens in the whole round.” The 574th-ranked Hendry of New Zealand, who conceded just one bogey in his round of eight birdies, has missed five straight cuts on the Australasian PGA and OneAsia tours since winning the NZ PGA Pro-Am Championship earlier this year. Morrison, Ramsay share lead In Bangalore, England's James Morrison and Richie Ramsay of Scotland shot 5-under 66s Thursday to share the first round lead in the Indian Open. On a day which saw a string of good performances despite a steady wind, a group of seven players were just one stroke behind the leaders in the Asian Tour event. The group comprised Thai pair Chapchai Nirat and Panuphol Pittayarat, Finland's Kalle Samooja and Jaakko Makitalo, along with India's Shiv Kapur, Javi Colomo of Spain and Myanmar's Zaw Moe. Morrison hit a purple patch when he birdied the fourth and sixth holes and sunk a 30-foot putt for an eagle on the par-five fifth. Kapur, who has three top-10 finishes on the tour this season, made up for an early bogey with five birdies. Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won the Macau Open last week, also kept up the local interest in a group of four at 68. Kang leads Korean Open South Korea's Kang Kyung-nam fired a three-under par 68 in the first round of the Korean Open Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over American Garrett Sapp. Play was cut short due to bad light, but none of the players left to finish had a chance of catching the 28-year-old leader, who boasted seven birdies offset by four bogeys at the $900,000 OneAsia competition. In joint third place were Koreans Choi Ho-sung, Suk Jong-yul, Kim Byung-jun and Kim Dae-hyun, and American Hong “Charles” Chang-kyu. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa and Korea's Noh Seiung-yul, both aged 21 and now playing in the United States, drew the biggest audience around the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club course. Struggling on the greens was 14-year-old America-based Chinese prodigy Andy Zhang, who in June became the youngest person ever to qualify for the US Open. — Agencies
