Lee Westwood clinches first-round lead at 2.75 mln-dollar Malaysian Open

Johannesburg: British golf ace Lee Westwood has surged to a first-round lead of the Malaysian Open on Thursday with a seven-under par 65, maintaining his solid performance from last week`s US Masters.

Westwood, who managed a seventh-place finish at the Masters on Sunday, stumbled out of the blocks in Malaysia with a bogey on his first hole of the day, although he later fired eight birdies and kept a clean card the rest of the way. According to Sport24, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium was just a stroke back on 66 after matching the Englishman`s birdie count but falling short due to a pair of bogeys on day one at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. The report mentioned that Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland and Ricardo Santos of Portugal were two shots back of Westwood at the 2.75 million-dollar event, jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, while South African Louis Oosthuizen ended the day seven shots back on even-par 72. Although defending champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat got out to an even slower start than Westwood, but the Thai fought his way back to a one-under 71 thanks to three birdies in the last six holes, the report added.