On a perfect day when birdies were in abundance, Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa began with a bang and returned identical cards of five-under 67 to finish tied second behind Tiger Woods after the opening round in the Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday.
Shiv Kapur, third Indian in the fray, was further one shot behind and his round of 68 had him tied 13th, a place he shares, among others, with defending champion Henrik Stenson and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.
Earlier, Woods got off to a blistering start in the $ 2.5 million European Tour event. Followed by a large gallery, Woods began with a birdie and picked up six more shots for a sizzling seven-under 65 at the Emirates Golf Club.
Coming off an average season, newly-married Jeev seemed determined to erase all bad memories and even a double bogey on the par-four sixth could not hold him back.
Jeev began his outward journey with a birdie and finished it in the same fashion, picking up one more shot in between on the fifth hole.
On resumption too, he began and ended the stretch with a birdie and added two more on his way for a highly satisfying round.
Randhawa, who has overtaken Jeev as country's highest ranked golfer, rode on a blemish-free front nine en route to a sparkling 67 with the birdie on the 13th being the lone blot on an otherwise perfect card.
He birdied the third, fourth, sixth and ninth, 10th and 11th holes to join Jeev and 10 others at tied second.
Delhi lad Shiv Kapur dropped two bogeys -- one on each nine -- but atoned for by spreading six birdies equally over both stretched.
