Harrington five behind as Lam sets pace with 67

SINGAPORE OPEN/EARLY FIRST ROUND SCORES:  A DISAPPOINTING back nine of 39 left Pádraig Harrington five shot off the pace set by clubhouse leader Lam Chin Bing at the weather-interrupted Singapore Open yesterday when darkness ended play at Sentosa Golf Club with half the field yet to finish their first round.

After a lightning storm halted play for more two hours, Lam completed his opening round on four-under 67, one stroke ahead of Australia's Marcus Both and three ahead of Austria's Markus Brier, Korea's Charlie Wi and China's Zhang Lian-wei in the €4 million Asian Tour event.

Harrington, who started at the 10th, picked up birdies at the 13th, 17th and 18th in a first nine of 33, but fell away on the run home with dropped shots at the first, fifth and ninth.

Meanwhile, teeing off in the afternoon, Ernie Els picked up an eagle on the fourth and had two more birdies, offset by a lone bogey, as he moved to three under through 14 holes, while Phil Mickelson overcame a poor start to shoot a 73.

Darren Clarke was tied with Mickelson on two over, while two-time Singapore Open winner Adam Scott had seven bogeys in his disastrous round of 76.

But it was Lam who stole the limelight after sparkling in soggy conditions at the Serapong course.

The 31-year-old made an excellent start after teeing off on the back nine with a birdie on his first hole and three in four just before the turn.

He dropped his only shot of the day when he missed a 20-footer for par at the fifth but a birdie on the eighth put him back on top on four under.

"It's just another tournament for me," said the Singaporean, who secured a place at this year's British Open Championship with a top-four finish in the qualifier at the same course.

"Even though it's our national open and the biggest tournament on the Asian Tour, I still have to go out there and do my job no matter what. So it's just going to be another day at the office for me tomorrow.

"Being familiar with a golf course is a little bit overrated. At the end of the day, you still have to go out and produce the shots."

Rory McIlroy was one over par through 12 holes when play was halted after bogies at the third and 10th and a lone birdie at the 11th after reaching the turn in 37.

First round suspended at 6.50pm and will resume at 7.30am today (local time)

67 - Lam Chin Bing (Sin)

68 - Marcus Both (Aus)

70 - Markus Brier (Aut), Charlie Wi (Kor), Zhang Lian-Wei (Chn) 71 Ben Leong (Mal), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha),

71 - Ben Leong (Mal), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Park Jun-Won (Kor), Jason King (Aus), Somkiat Srisanga (Tha)

72 - Pádraig Harrington (Irl), Gonzalo Fdz-Castano (Spa), Simon Dunn, Adam Blyth (Aus), Mars Pucay (Phi), Scott Barr (Aus)

73 - Steven Tiley (Eng), Darren Clarke (Nirl), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Phil Mickelson (US), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Arjun Singh (Ind), Young Nam (Kor), Darren Beck (Aus), Kodai Ichihara (Jpn)

74 - Chan Yih-Shin (Tai), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Danny Lee (Nzl), Liang Wen-Chong (Chn), Jason Knutzon (US), Muhammad Munir (Pak), Neven Basic (Aus), Guido Van Der Valk (Ned), Rhys Davies (Wal), Thammanoon Srirot (Tha), Dinesh Chand (Fij)

75 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Han Lee (Kor), Wang Ter-Chang (Tai), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Kwanchai Tannin (Tha), Shaaban Hussin (Mal), M Murugiah (Sin), Anthony Kang (US),S Siva Chandhran (Mal), Kim Nam-Kang (Kor)

76 - Pornsakon Tipsanit (Tha), Mo Joong-Kyung (Kor), Unho Park (Aus), Takuya Taniguchi (Jpn), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Arjun Atwal (Ind), Adam Scott (Aus), Udorn Duangdecha (Tha), Wisut Artjanawat (Tha), Ted Oh (Kor), Kao Bo-Song (Tai)

77 - Rashid Ismail (Mal), Ekalak Waisayakul (Tha), Hsu Mong-Nan (Tai), Will Yanagisawa (US), Yasin Ali (Eng)

78 - Ferdinand Aunzo (Phi), Angelo Que (Phi), Gary Simpson (Aus), Lien Lu-Sen (Tai)

79 - Mahal Pearce (Nzl), Frankie Minoza (Phi), Ross Bain (Sco), Danny Chia (Mal), Ashley Hall (Aus)

80 - Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Stephen Scahill (Nzl)