Jeev Milkha Singh

Jyoti Randhawa

Jeju: Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa were off to good starts with identical cards of 68 to end the first round at tied third spot in the Ballantine’s Championship on Thursday.

The Indian duo and seven others are one stroke behind leaders Mikko Ilonen of Finland and Tony Carolan of Australia at the Pinx Golf Club in the co-sanctioned event.

Jeev had a tremendous start with birdies on the 10th, 11th and the 13th holes. He then had a double bogey on the 18th to take the turn at one-under.

On the front nine, Jeev fired three consecutive birdies on the first, second and the third, his only blemish being a bogey on the seventh.

The former Asia No. 1 picked up another stroke when he closed with a birdie on the ninth.

Randhawa, on the other hand, did not have a great start as he had a double bogey on the second. But he fought back with birdies on the fourth, eighth, 10th, 15th, 16th and the 18th to end on a high note.

Gaurav Ghei carded a par 72 and Shiv Kapur brought in a two-over 74 be at tied 62nd and tied 98th, respectively.

Ghei made seven pars and birdied the seventh and ninth to produce a solid front nine, but stumbled on the back nine with bogeys on the 14th and 15th.

Kapur sank birdies on the ninth and 13th and bogeyed the seventh, 10th, 15th and the 16th.

British Open champion Padraig Harrington and world No. 5 K.J. Choi fired 71s in the first European Tour event to be played in South Korea.

American Chris DiMarco showed signs of breaking out of his recent form slump until a double bogey at the par-four 18th meant he slipped to two under.

Little-known Australian Carolan sacked his caddie en route to claiming his share of the lead.

“He was jiggling clubs while I was putting,” Carolan told reporters.

“He kept moving too and he also had soft spikes on so he wasn’t allowed on the greens. He was terrible. I just told him to go (after four holes). I’m paying him $160 a day and he couldn’t walk on the greens.”

The 39-year-old Carolan, who has never won as a professional, spends much of his time on the Asian Tour these days. He was 34th on the Asian money list last year.

His best performance on the Australasian Tour is a 19th-place finish on the 1998-99 Order of Merit.

Ilonen, who has won twice on the European Tour, was happy to be back to full fitness after illness.

“The last two weeks I’ve been sick, in Malaysia and India,” said Ilonen. “I played four rounds in each tournament and had no energy whatsoever. Now I feel better for the first time in a month.”