World number five Retief Goosen blazed a first-round 64 to stamp his authority on the Volkswagen Masters-China golf tournament here on Thursday. Two eagles and five birdies against one bogey put the South African on top of the leaderboard at eight under par, two shots ahead of Canada's Darren Griff and Gary Simpson of Australia.
US Open champion Michael Campbell was a shot further back on five-under with Scotland's John Wither and American Gary Rusnak.
The double US Open champion hit two more birdies after the turn before drawing gasps from the gallery with another eagle at the par-five seventh to put down an early marker in the 300,000-dollar Asian Tour event.
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES (China unless stated):
64 - Retief Goosen (RSA)
66 - Gary Simpson (AUS), Darren Griff (CAN)
67 - John Wither (SCO), Gary Rusnak (USA), Michael Campbell (NZL)
68 - Craig Warren (AUS), Li Chao, Chen Tze Chung (TPE), Lu Wen Teh (TPE)
69 - Zhang Lian Wei, Harmeet Kahlon (IND), Mahal Darren Pearce (NZL), Ron Won (USA), Andrew Buckle (AUS), Rick Gibson (CAN), Adam Blyth (AUS)
70 - Guido Van der Valk (NED), Anthony Kang (USA), Scott Barr (AUS), Jason Knutzon (USA), Lin Wen Tang (TPE), Jamnian Chitprasong (THA), Scott Strange (AUS), Prom Meesawat (THA), Jason Dawes (AUS), Anura Rohana (SRI)
Selected:
71 - Amandeep Johl (IND)
72 - Rahil Gangjee (IND), Thaworn Wiratchant (THA)
73 - Phillip Price (WAL).