England's Lee Westwood got off to a hot start in his title defence at the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters with a sizzling round of seven-under-par 65 on Thursday.
Westwood opened up a two-shot lead over Arnond Vongvanij of Thailand, who returned with a 67 at the majestic Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Veteran Boonchu Ruangkit of Thailand, former Asian Tour number one Jyoti Randhawa of India, Shiv Kapur, Lee Sung of Korea, Zaw Moe of Myanmar and Sam Cyr of the United States were bunched up in tied third place on matching 68s.
A rejuvenated Westwood, who took a week's break from his third place finish at the Masters, birdied the opening three holes before turning in 31 and adding three birdies and one bogey on his homeward nine.
"I had a break last week and hardly hit any balls. I played a lot of golf earlier this year and needed a rest. It was good to go home and recharge my batteries because the Masters always takes a lot out of you. It is physically and mentally very demanding," said the World No 3.
It was a wind-swept day at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club and Westwood was caught off guard on the 14th hole where he dropped his second bogey of the day.
"This is quite a tricky test because the greens are very undulating. You have to have your A-Game with you. It (the wind direction) changed on 14 and it caught me by surprise and ended up with a bogey where I three putted," he said.
Asian Tour rookie Arnond, who has two top-10 finishes this year, continued to impress and credited his straight shooting game for his flawless scorecard.
"I'm happy but not surprised. I feel that my game in the last couple of weeks have been really close to where I want it. I hit my driver fairly straight and didn't get into too much trouble," said the 23-year-old.
golf365.com