Rahil Gangjee seventh, Jordan Spieth third in Singapore Open

SENTOSA (Singapore): Rahil Gangjee was the best among the Indian golfers at the SMBC Singapore Open on Thursday as threat of lighting forced early closure of play with some yet to complete their first round.
Gangjee shot three-under 71 on the tough Serapong course, was tied seventh and two behind South Africa's Keith Horne who upstaged the tournament's stars by firing an opening five-under 66 to grab the clubhouse lead.
World No. 1 Jordan Spieth shot 67 and was tied third at the Sentosa golf course.
Former Asian Tour winner, Gangjee had a bogeyfree round and was looking at a good week to get off to a flying start in the new season.
Among other Indians, Rashid Khan, two-time winner on Asian Tour, was two-under, but will come tomorrow morning to complete his round as he has four more holes to go.
Shiv Kapur and Himmat Rai carded one-under 70 each to be tied 21, while Indian Open runner-up SSP Chawrasia, who was part of the Asian team at EurAsia Cup shot even par 71 to be tied 37th.
Gaganjeet Bhullar struggled to four-over 75, while veterans Arjun Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh came in with seven-over 78 and Chiragh Kumar, the Panasonic Open winner was way behind with 79. Daniel Chopra was 12-over with one more hole to go.
Gangjee was his usual cheery self, saying, "Well I guess he's (Jordan Spieth) the benchmark. I'm happy with it. Three birdies and no bogeys. I birdied the very first hole I went out on 10. It was a simple round but effective one. If it was anything, it was the heat as the wind died down so you feel it more when there's no wind."
He added, "The course is looking good. The green speed is at least 12 and fairways are immaculate. I've always hold this course in high regard. I think they haven't used the entire length. They are a few holes that play really long as they moved the tees up. But it's for a good cause because if the wind starts blowing into our faces, we are going to be hitting three-wood into par four which is not exactly the fairest thing in golf."
The 44-year-old, Horne, who is still searching for his maiden victory on the Asian Tour, mixed his card with seven birdies and two bogeys to take a one-shot advantage over Korea's Byeonghun An and world number one Jordan Spieth of the United States after the duo returned with matching 67s.
American Berry Henson, a one-time Asian Tour winner, was five-under through 17 holes while Thailand's Namchok Tantipokhakul lurked closely behind at four-under after 14 holes before play was brought to a halt for the second time at 6.39pm (local time) because of lightning activities around the Serapong course at Sentosa Golf Club.
A total of 57 players will resume their first round rounds at 7.30am with the second round scheduled to commence at 8.10am.
Jordan Spieth showed no signs of nerves despite playing at the Serapong course for the first time. He enjoyed a bogey-free run highlighted by an opening 20-footer birdie putt.
"My speed control was great, with no three putts, I had a lot of putts over 30 feet today, I know I was not hitting it close enough but I managed to hit the fairway to a good number and get onto the greens where I just need to two-putt. It was pretty stress free and but there were no real opportunities," said Spieth.
Another big name, Darren Clarke shot three-over 74 as did Thaworn Wiratchant.