Golf: Brown in touch in Dubai

Mark Brown. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand golfer Mark Brown is handily placed after the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic after opening with a three-under par 69.

Brown is in a nine-way share for tenth, along with world's top two ranked golfers Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, four shots behind leader Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy at the European Tour event.

Brown, 36, starting on the back nine, began his round with a birdie at the Emirates Golf Club's Majlis Course and then played the next nine holes in level par.

He managed three birdies over his next five holes before he dropped his only shot of the day at the par four eighth hole when his ball ricocheted off a tree and into waste sand.

"Three-under par is a pretty good score given the wind picked up this afternoon and that made it a lot tougher out there," he said.

Brown attributed his good start to using a new ball.

"I'm finding I can shape and manoeuvre the ball a lot better, and particularly in the wind. So that's given me a good bit of new confidence."

Danny Lee did not fare as well, sprinkling his round with two birdies and four bogeys for a two-over par 74 to lie one shot over the projected cut line. Michael Campbell, who met West Indian cricketing legend Brian Lara on the practice putting green before teeing off, was two shots further back after a 76.

- NZPA