American Cliff Kresge and Australian Steven Bowditch shared the lead after the opening round of the Jacob's Creek Open golf tournament at Royal Adelaide on Thursday. Kresge putted superbly, sinking an eight-metre birdie putt on the 10th, his opening hole, and another of similar length on the first, with an eagle on the par-five 15th another highlight in his five-under par round of 67.

He has spent three of the last four years on the US PGA Tour before losing his card last year and is using this co-sanctioned US second-tier Nation-wide Tour tournament to work his way back.

"All in all my putting was really the reason why I shot five-under," said Kresge, who carded six birdies along with his eagle, turning in two-under.

"I think my ball-striking wasn't as good as I'd like it to be, but the putter was great."

Bowditch, 21, followed up a strong first-round performance in last week's New Zealand Open where he had an opening eight-under 64.

Bowditch is having a breakthrough summer. He finished third in the Australian Open in November and followed that with fourth place in December's Australian Masters, after winning the Queensland Open in November.

The Australian had seven birdies but gave up shots at the par-four 10th and 16th holes. Former Australian Open champion Greg Chalmers, who won the tournament on this course in 1998, was a shot off the pace on four under par, with a large group of players poised a further shot back.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005