China's Liang Wenchong shot a six-under-par 64 to take a one-shot first-round lead with South African Richard Sterne at the $2.5 million Hong Kong Open on Thursday. The 30-year-old, aiming to become the first mainland Chinese to win the tournament in its 50th year, hit seven birdies and could have gone into the second day out on his own but finished his round with a three-putt for a bogey. “My performance was very good today, but there are still three days to go,” said the ever-cautious Liang, who won the Asian Tour Order of Merit last year. “I'll try to give my best performance every day.” Sterne picked up four shots in his first six holes but a couple of bogeys just before halfway set him back and he needed another four birdies on the back nine to share the lead. Frankie Minoza of the Phillipines and Taiwan's Lin Wen-tang shared third after carding 65s, a shot better than Briton Oliver Wilson - the loser of a playoff against Sergio Garcia in Shanghai two weeks ago - and three others who share fifth. Twice-major winner John Daly made a good start with a 68 on the tight Fanling course that left him in a share of 15th with Colin Montgomerie and 14 other players. “I'm not too disappointed, being a little rusty, had not played in a month,” said the 42-year-old American. “I think under par on the first round here is pretty good, I'll take it.” Montgomerie, the winner here in 2005, bogeyed his first hole but was pleased overall with his round. “I got my swing back together and very safe,” said the Scot. “The greens should be good tomorrow morning and (I) got a good round under my belt and look forward to starting tomorrow. Six-times- major winner Nick Faldo, making his first playing appearance after skippering the European Ryder Cup team, also started with a bogey but birdied the next three holes. A double bogey five at the eighth and a bogeys at the 16th and 17th, however, left the Briton eight shots off the pace on 72. The Hong Kong Open is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours. LPGA cutting tourneys and prize money The LPGA is cutting its tournaments from 34 to 31 in 2009 and slashing its official prize money by just over five million dollars, commissioner Carolyn Bivens announced on Wednesday. Bivens said the prize money would drop to 55 million dollars from “a little more than” 60 million in 2007 and blamed the decrease on the worsening US and European economies. “I wish this economic downturn had waited one more year,” said Bivens as she announced the 2009 LPGA Tour schedule at the season-ending ADT Championship which begins Thursday. “Given the state of the global economy we view today's release of the 2009 schedule as a barometre of stability, appeal, and value for our players and our property.” The average tournament prize money will also fall slightly from 1.77 million dollars to 1.76 million dollars. The Tour will start in Hawaii in February with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. The final event of the season will be the Tour Championship held in Houston, Texas. This week's ADT Championship, which has a first prize of one million dollars and closes the 2008 schedule, is one of the four events not on the 2009 schedule. The Fields Open in Hawaii, Ginn Tribute in South Carolina and The Safeway International in Arizona are also gone because of sponsorship issues.
