Australian Rhein Gibson and Daniel Woltman of the US fired 4-under-par 67s yesterday to share the first-round lead at the Nanshan China Masters.

A group of four was one stroke back at Nanshan International Golf Club, including home players Li Haotong and Zhou Guowu, along with Australian Adam Stephens and Nick Gillespie from New Zealand, who birdied four of the first five holes but then hit a double-bogey at the sixth.

"I've spent the last five weeks at home with the wife so it was a bit hard to get going but I made a solid start," said Gibson, 28, who set a world record with a 16-under 55 in 2012.

He played the third round of this year's Open championship with Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth after making the cut, and added: "That experience has really helped my confidence."

Li, only 19, could have joined the leading pair but dropped a shot on the 18th.

China's Guan Tianlang, the 15-year-old amateur who made the cut at last year's US Masters, was 1 over after firing a 72.

In Kuala Lumpur, Stacy Lewis shot a 6-under 65 yesterday to take a one-stroke lead at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, the second event of the tour's six-tournament Asian swing.

Top-ranked Lewis birdied the par-5 16th hole to break away from a tight leaderboard at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. Tied for second were the South Korean quartet of Choi Na-yeon, Park Hee-young, Ji Eun-hee and Ryu So-yeon.

Golfers from South Korea have won six of the last seven LPGA tournaments.

Amy Yang of South Korea and China's Feng Shanshan were among a group tied for sixth after shooting 67.

"My goal was to shoot a 1 or 2 under on the front and I got off to a good start," Lewis said. "It was kind of shaky on the first three holes but I just hung in there and gave myself a lot of birdie chances and I was fortunate to make a few. So it was a little bit of an ugly round, but I got a lot out of it."

Feng finished tied for 49th in her native China last week, and was happy to be playing away from home this week.

"I'm more relaxed," Feng said. "Last week, I think people wanted me to win again, and I told everybody I was not going to give myself pressure, but I think I still did a little bit. I tried too hard and actually it went the wrong way."

Last week, South Korea's Lee Mi-rim won the Reignwood Classic in Beijing for her second victory of the year. The LPGA KEB-HanaBank is next week in South Korea, followed by the Blue Bay LPGA in China.

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