Thomas Bjorn transformed into a dashing Dane in recording his best first round score in nine months with a five under par 66 to lead the storm-affected opening day of the Barclays Singapore Open.

Bjorn’s round on the Sentosa Resort course included six birdies and just one bogey and in his best day one score since shooting a similar 66 in the first round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

It gave him the lead when play was stopped at 3.15pm local time and then abandoned for the day at 5pm due to the continuing presence of storms.

Dashing Dane Thomas Bjorn shoots his best opening score in nine months on day one of the storm-affected Barclays Singapore Open. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

“I came here and saw the golf course, and its set-up to be tricky this year and knew that everything was about driving the golf ball well,” said Bjorn.

“It’s not the longest golf course in the world so if you can keep it in the fairway, you can produce a score, and I did that very well today. That’s only round one, so we’ll work from here.”

Since making his debut in the co-sanctioned event in 2009 Bjorn has now played eight rounds and today’s round of 66 is only the third occasion he’s broken 70 while his best Singapore showing was well down in 66th place last year.

“I’ve played golf for so many years, and I always enjoy coming to Singapore and Malaysia,” added Bjorn.

“We get quite used to it but you just got to pace yourself a little bit and

“I don’t use too much energy through the week. It is about playing golf this week, and it’s quite nice for the body to be feeling warm and nice out there.

“So it’s not cold on the old joints to get you into trouble.”

England’s Simon Khan, Spain’s Pablo Martin and Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil are tied in second place on four under par.

And it was www.golfbytourmiss.com that revealed earlier this week that Khan has withdrawn from the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying to concentrate on getting back to his 2010 PGA Championship winning ways in Europe.