Gangjee tied 11th, Lahiri 21st at Macau

Macau, Oct 23 (IANS) Rahil Gangjee, hoping to seal his 2009 Asian Tour card, shot a four-under 67 to be placed 11th and was the best Indian after the opening round of the Macau Open Thursday.

Gangjee was still three short of Australia's David Gleeson, who blasted seven birdies on the way to a one-stroke lead.

Anirban Lahiri (68) was 21st, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) was 31st. Baaz Mann (70) was 47th and Gaurav Ghei (71) was 62nd as 61 players shot par or under. Firoz Ali and Himmat Rai shot 72 each, while Digvijay Singh, Arjun Singh and Chiragh Kumar turned in cards of 73 each to be in 89th place. Amanddep Johl continued to struggle in the 117th spot with a card of 76.

Gleeson fired a seven-under-par 64 for a one stroke advantage over Thai duo of Wisut Artjanawat and Udorn Duangdecha and Chinese Taipei brothers of Lin Wen-tang and

Lin Wen-hong, who were all in a tie for second place at the Macau Golf and Country Club.

In-form Australian Darren Beck, who finished runner-up at the Hero Honda Indian Open two weeks ago, carded a 66 to lie in joint sixth place in the US$ 500,000 Asian Tour event together with Chinese Taipei veteran Wang Ter-chang and compatriot Kao Bo-song, Welshman Rhys Davies and Thailand's Wittawat Sae-ung.

Defending champion Lu Wen-teh posted a 70 and was in a tie for 47th place.