Milan: Jeev Milkha Singh played a steady bogey-free round of three-under 69, but still found himself in tied 39th place on a low scoring first day at the Telecom Italia golf tournament on Thursday.

Jyoti Randhawa, fresh from his runner-up finish last week in Madrid, turned in a one-under 71 to be tied 70th.

The day’s highlight was a brilliant 10-under 62 by Joakim Backstrom, who has been slowly recovering from an injured back.

Backstrom led by a shot over Austrian Markus Brier. Jeev, starting off the tenth, found birdies on the par-3 14th and then the par-5 15th for back-to-back efforts that saw him turn in two-under.

On the front half of the Castello di Tolscinasco golf and country club on the outskirts of Milan, Jeev added one more birdie on second and parred the rest for a 69.

Jeev found 50 per cent of the fairways and took 29 putts for the round.

Randhawa was robbed off a sub-par round with a closing bogey on 18th after two earlier birdies on 10th and 12th holes. It was putting woes that let Randhawa down as he took 31 for the round. (Agencies)