New Zealand's Tim Wilkinson shot a six-under-par 66 to grab the early lead at the Australian PGA championship on Thursday before a wild storm brought the opening round to a premature halt. The left-hander carded seven birdies against one bogey to reach the clubhouse one stroke clear of Australia's Geoff Ogilvy and New Zealander Richard Lee. Australia's Peter Nolan was in outright fourth place at four-under, while two-time major winner John Daly made five birdies in his last eight holes as the American recovered from a bad start in a one-under-par 71. Only half of the 156 starters finished their first rounds before the weather turned foul and the threat of lightning forced the players to abandon the course for the day. Ogilvy looked certain to at least grab a share of the lead after making an eagle and three birdies in his first 10 holes but parred the last eight in a row to settle for a round of 67. Stenson 5 shots clear Henrik Stenson surged five strokes clear of the field with a course record-tying 63 in the Sun City Challenge first round on Thursday. The big-hitting Swede blended accurate tee shots with precision putting at the Gary Player Country Club to fire his nine-under-par score and equal the record set by Ernie Els in the final round of the 2002 event. South African Rory Sabbatini was second on 68 with Briton Lee Westwood third on 70. Stenson, who won last week's World Cup for Sweden alongside Robert Karlsson, reeled off three successive birdies at the start before making amends for a bogey four at the seventh with back-to-back birdies at eight and nine. After another birdie at the 10th, the Ryder Cup player went birdie-eagle-birdie from the 13th before finishing with three par figures. Karlsson was joint fourth on level-par 72 with Briton Luke Donald, South Africa's James Kingston, KJ Choi of South Korea, world number two Sergio Garcia and holder Trevor Immelman. American Kenny Perry and Briton Justin Rose carded 73s and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez was last on 75. PGA hunting for sponsors PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has held discussions with energy, retail and environmental companies to replace some struggling auto and financial sponsors of the US golf tour if needed. The PGA, which operates the main professional US golf tours, depends on corporate sponsors such as US automaker General Motors to help support its tournaments. However, the turmoil in the auto and financial services sectors has left the sport vulnerable to a loss of marketing and advertising dollars. “There are a number of companies clearly cutting back on their sports marketing budgets. We anticipate some of those kind of conversations,” Finchem said Media Summit in New York on Wednesday. “We've got to assume and prepare for some slippage, and prepare for some replacement there.”
