China's Liang Wen-chong fired a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to take an early one-stroke lead in the first round of the Singapore Masters on March 8, 2007.

Teeing off in one of the first groups on the less demanding Classic Course, the 28-year-old Liang reached the turn on three-under after a bogey-free 33, before storming into the lead with a run of five birdies over six holes.

Sitting one shot back of the leader are India's Jyoti Randhawa and Japan's Shingo Katayama as Asian players took up the top three spots on the leaderboard at the $1.1 million co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event.

The opening two rounds of the event are being split over two layouts at the Laguna National Golf Club before the field is reduced on Friday and the final 36 holes are played on the tougher Masters Course.

The leading 10 players in the clubhouse all completed their rounds on the Classic Course with England's Graeme Storm and Germany's Martin Kaymer sharing fourth place with six-under-par 66s.

The lowest completed round on the Masters Course was a four-under 68 by New Zealand's Richard Lee, good enough for a share of 11th place.

With his unconventional baseball-like swing, Liang is currently the highest-ranked Chinese professional at 114 in the world and has registered seven wins on his domestic tour but is still searching for a breakthrough victory overseas.

"I was driving it steady and my putting was pretty consistent as well," he told reporters.

"I played well on the front nine and after firing three birdies, I was very relaxed heading into the last nine holes.

"I carried the momentum into the back nine and I am pleased with my overall first round performance."

Defending champion Mardan Mamat of Singapore was three-under par through 11 holes and his predecessor Nick Dougherty of Britain stood on one-over after 10 holes, both on the Masters Course.