Campillo continues scintillating form in China

Cape Town - Jorge Campillo picked up exactly where he left off in Morocco last week as the European Tour's most recent champion carded an opening 65 to share the first round lead in the 25th edition of the China Open.

The Spaniard was clearly still riding the wave of his maiden victory at the Trophée Hassan II on Sunday as he opened with a birdie and finished the front nine with an eagle three - with three more birdies in between - before a quieter back nine yielded just one gained shot at the par five 17th.

"I got a few nights sleep so it was good and I played alright. Hitting fairways and greens and I made a few putts as well so it was good round," said Campillo after his opening round.

"The eagle on nine was the highlight, I made great putts on seven and eight back to back and then I hit a great hybrid on nine. I got an easy putt uphill and I made it.

"If I can keep playing like this and making the putts it will be a good sign, I'll play to my best tomorrow and hopefully have a chance on the weekend," said Campillo.

"The 18th tee shot is one of the hardest on the golf course and it was raining really hard. I was worried about that tee shot but it went down the middle. It was a little challenging the last few holes."

He joined American David Lipsky, a winner already this season at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, and Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland at the top of the leaderboard on seven under par.

Home hero and the 2015 China Open champion Wu Ashun was a shot further back alongside his compatriot Jin Daxing and American John Catlin after three 66s, while another Chinese star, world No 39 Li Haotong, was one of eight players in a share of sixth place on five under.

Leading Scores after round 1 of the China Open being played at the par 72, 7145 Yards Genzon GC course (am - denotes amateur):

65 - David LIPSKY (USA), Tapio PULKKANEN (FIN), Jorge CAMPILLO (ESP)

66 - John CATLIN (USA), WU Ashun (CHN), Daxing JIN (CHN)

67 - Miguel TABUENA (PHI), Romain LANGASQUE (FRA), Gavin GREEN (MAS), Jordan SMITH (ENG), Ross FISHER (ENG), Benjamin HEBERT (FRA), Haotong LI (CHN), Mike LORENZO-VERA (FRA)

68 - WU Hongfu (CHN), Sam BRAZEL (AUS), Victor DUBUISSON (FRA), Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT (THA), Mikko KORHONEN (FIN), Erik VAN ROOYEN (RSA), Scott HEND (AUS), Sean CROCKER (USA), Fabrizio ZANOTTI (PAR), Nacho ELVIRA (ESP), Yuta IKEDA (JPN), Oliver WILSON (ENG), Jack SINGH BRAR (ENG), Matthieu PAVON (FRA), Nicolas COLSAERTS (BEL), Scott JAMIESON (SCO), YUAN Yechun (CHN), Stuart MANLEY (WAL)