SUN CITY, South Africa – Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry shot 7-under 65s on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Ernie Els, the winner three of the last four years, opened with a 72 for a 16th-place tie in the 18-player field. The South African failed to break par for the first time in 29 rounds in the event.

Chris DiMarco, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby and Darren Clarke opened with 66s and Stuart Appleby and Jerry Kelly had 67s.

DiMarco was hurt by a double bogey on the par-4 eighth, but birdied eight of the remaining 10 holes at the Gary Player Country Club course.

Perry played a quietly efficient round. He finished the par-36 front nine in 31 and had two more birdies on the back nine.

Singh, the PGA Tour money champion, was among the 15 players in the field who played in last week’s Presidents Cup, which ended in a tie.

Gustafson first woman to play Japanese tour

KAIMON, Japan – Sophie Gustafson became the first woman to play on the Japan Golf Tour on Thursday, shooting a 2-over-par 74 in the first round of the Casio World Open.

The Swede, a four-time winner on the LPGA Tour,

had two birdies and four bogeys.

Japan’s Katsumune Imai opened with a 65 to take a two-stroke lead over countryman Koki Idoki, Fiji’s Dinesh Chand and India’s Jyoti Randhawa.