Jung, Kim, Charoenkul share lead in Beijing

Canada's Richard Jung, South Korea's Kim Dongmin and Thailand's Gunn Charoenkul, each shot 6-under 66 to share the first-round lead at the RMB 1.6 million Beijing Championship, the fourth event of this year's PGA TOUR Series-China.

England's Stephen Lewton, 15th on the Order of Merit, shot 67 to share fourth with Austria's Berni Reiter and South Korea's Gyungsik Yoon at the Ian-Woosnam designed Topwin Golf and Country Club.

China's Zhang Huilin, last year's Beijing Championship runner-up, carded a 68 to share seventh with five other players. Defending champion Peter Campbell of Canada shot even-par to lie in a tie for 70th.

Jung, who also has full status on the Japan Tour, is playing in his second Tour event of the season and is off to a great start after a blemish-free opening round, which included six birdies.

Now Jung is trying to emulate his good, aggressive style of play from 2018, where he won the Tour's Suzhou Open. He missed by one spot qualifying for the final stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament when he finished 11th on the 2018 Order of Merit.

"I was hitting all the fairways and greens. I probably only missed one fairway. I was hitting really close to the pins, and I played aggressive so it paid off," said Jung of his opening round. "Last year, I set too many goals for myself, but this year I just want to play smart. I was making too many mistakes, so I'm playing smart now and the putts are dropping. I think I can do well."

Charoenkul managed to bounce back from back-to-back bogeys to start his day by carding six birdies and an eagle (on the par-5 fourth) to match the clubhouse lead earlier set by Jung.

A Tour winner in both 2014 and 2016, Charoenkul has again been steady all year, recording two top 10s in the opening three events while looking to keep the putts dropping.

"I was a bit careless on the first two holes and three-putted on the first. I couldn't really figure out the wind direction, but after that I got things figured out," said Charoenkul. "I did what I needed to do and was saving par when I made mistakes and got some momentum going. If I can keep my putting going, I think I will have a good chance."