SINGAPORE – Malaysia’s M. Sasidaran fired a six-under-par 66 to take the lead after the first round of the inaugural Mercedes-Benz Masters Singapore Wednesday while Philippine’s Juvic Pagunsan was three strokes behind.

His bogey-free round at the par-72 Laguna National Golf and Country Club course means he leads by one shot from Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing at the 50,000-dollar tournament.

Piya Swangarunpron and Pariya Junhasavasdikul from Thailand carded 68s while one stroke further back are Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, Pagunsan and Thailand’s Nakul Vichitryuthasastr.

Sasidaran, who won the Champion of Champions tournament here in 2004, said: "I have been working on keeping a good tempo and staying patient and it helped today. I also made some nice putts."

The 32-year-old made three birdies on each nine and narrowly missed an eagle putt from 10 feet on the 11th.

Lam, who finished second in Tuesday's qualifier, started on the 10th and shot up the leaderboard with a four-under-par front nine.

"It’s going well at the moment. No complaints and it’s certainly the right time of year to be playing well with so many tournaments on," said Lam.

The Singaporean has an impressive record on the Mercedes-Benz Tour this year, winning the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Masters Indonesia.

Mamat, Singapore's top golfer, is within striking distance after a slow start. He was one under after nine but closed the gap on the leaders with birdies on holes 14 and 17.

Malaysia’s Danny Chia came in with a 70 as did Michael Bibat, winner of the Singapore Open in 2004.

The event marks the seventh leg on this year's Tour.

Leading first-round scores:

66 - M. Sasidaran (MAS)
67 - Lam Chih Bing (SIN)
68 - Piya Swangarunpron (THA), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA)
69 - Mardan Mamat (SIN), Juvic Pagunsan (PHI), Nakul Vichitryuthasastr (THA), Panuphol Pittayarat (THA)
70 - Varut Chomchalam (THA), Michael Bibat (PHI), Danny Chia (MAS)
71 - S. Murthy (MAS), Pongthep Jaewchamnanchao (THA), S. Sarmilih (INA), Rashid Ismail (MAS), CM Chong (MAS)