China’s Bai Khengkai shot an eight under par 64 and take a one shot lead after the first round lead of the inaugural International Series - Vietnam.

India’s Honey Baisoya, Taehee Lee from South Korea and Lee Chieh-po from Chinese-Taipei, are all one shot back after 65’s, in what is the Asian Tour’s first event in Vietnam for seven years.

The $2 million event is being played on a Greg Norman designed links style layout at KN Golf Links, in Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa Province, in the south-central coast region of Vietnam.

Already won on Challenge Tour

Khengkai, 25 years-old, shot an eight birdie – no bogey round. One of his claims to fame is that he was the first Chinese player to win on the Challenge Tour – the 2019 Foshun Open on home soil.

This is the fourth event on the Asian Tour International Series Order of Merit and the eighth event on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Both currently led by Andy Ogletree who is in this week’s field and shot 70.

Dubai based Shiv Kapur shot an opening three under par 69, including five birdies, hitting 15 greens in regulation to be in tied 41st.

Shiv spoke to GULF NEWS following his round, ‘With my early tee time they were easy conditions this morning with not much wind. Last week I was in Bali on holiday and did not touch a golf club. Overall, I was pleased with my game. I made a couple of course management errors, and it is never nice to finish with a bogey.’

Anirban Lahiri, taking a busman’s holiday from the LIV Golf Tour matched Shiv’s 69. Jeev Milkha Singh opened up with a 76.

On the sidelines of the tournament Anirban talked about golf in Asia, ‘Now with The International Series and LIV Golf coming to Asia, growing the game here has really become one of the main agendas and bringing so many of the best golfers to play in this region is going to have a huge impact. I won’t say ‘change’ but that’s where the boost is going to come from. It’s there, it’s growing, and I think The International Series is doing a phenomenal job of accelerating that.’

I want to play on LIV

With multiple wins in Asia, Lahiri can be considered an authority on golf in the world’s biggest continent, and he added: ‘If you ask the majority of golfers in Asia, or on this side of the world, they’re going to say, ‘I want to play on LIV’, and now there’s a pathway to get there.

‘Even outside of that, you’ve got 10 tournaments (The International Series), which you’re playing for pretty much $2 million every time, which is a really good prize for that many events in Asia. It’s a huge leap.’

Round 1 Scores (7,165 Yards, Par 72)

1 - B. Zhengkai (China) -8, 642 - T. Lee (South Korea) -7, 65   - H. Baisoya (Ind) -7, 65   - L. Chieh-po (Chinese Taipei) -7, 65