Mum's the word for America's Purdy

DUBAI, UAE (Agencies): America's Ted Purdy fired a six under par 66 Wednesday for a one shot lead over Jeev Milkha Singh of India and Hong Kong's Dominique Boulet after the first round of the Omega Tour's US$250,000 Dubai Creek Open at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club.

The 24-year-old from Scottsdale Arizona tamed the notoriously difficult Dubai Creek layout with seven birdies and a solitary bogey -- one birdie more than his Indian rival -- while Boulet fired an eagle, four birdies and one bogey.

"If there's a weakness to my game then it's usually my putting but today that was the key to my success," Purdy, who toured the front nine in 34 before coming in with an impressive four under par 32, said.

"Strangely enough, it was my mum who noticed that I'd been trying too hard with my putter and overrunning the hole when the putts didn't go in," he said. "So today I changed my strategy, preferring to try and run the ball close rather than nail it every time and they just seemed to drop."

Still in his rookie year as a professional, Purdy was a late entry into the tournament, arriving late Tuesday evening after making it through the first round of the US PGA Tour School, where he was involved in an eight man playoff.

"I have never been as nervous as I was last week at the Tour School. It's nice to play in an event again when there's not quite so much riding on every shot, and I think this helped me relax and play some good golf today," Purdy, who already has three top 10 finishes to his name on this year's Omega Tour, said.

A former captain of Arizona State University, one of the leading teams in American collegiate golf, Purdy finished third in the London Myanmar Open, tied for fifth in the DFS Galleria Guam Open and joint seventh in the Asia-Pacific Ericsson Masters.

Unlike Purdy, Singh failed to make it through the first stages of the US Tour School, despite a good run of form over the past six weeks that enabled him to finish second in last month's $500,000 Asia-Pacific Ericsson Masters.

Boulet hopes his five under 67 will represent the end of a depressing run of form.

"My confidence still isn't that great but it's nice to get a good score under my belt. I'd rather be in a position where I can think about being in contention at the weekend, rather than worrying about just making the cut," the 32-year-old Boulet, who's best finish this year was 23rd in the Volvo China Open, said.

"If I knew the reason for my turnaround in form, then I'd bottle it and make millions. One thing I do know is that I didn't make any changes to my swing during the round. I hit some nice shots at the start of the day and decided to stick with it."

Arjun Singh of India lies tied for fourth place with Thailand's Supphavarangoon Veerawut at four under par, while Gaurav Ghei rounded off a good day for Indian golf by firing a three under 69 and shares sixth spot with nine other players.

Selected results 66 - Ted Purdy (USA) 67 - Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind); Dominique Boulet (Hkg) 68 - Arjun Singh (Ind) Supha Veerawut (Tha) 69 - Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Adrian Percey (Aus), Des Terblanche

(Rsa), Charlie Wi (Kor), Wang Ter-Chang (Twn), Brad Andrews

(Aus), Lu Wen-Teh (Twn), Kim Young-Il (Kor), Craig Kamps

(Rsa), Imdad Hussain (Pak) 70 - Park Unho (Aus), Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha), Mike Cunning

(USA), Scott Laycock (Aus), Aung Hla Han (Myn), Chang Tse-

Peng (Twn), Nico van Rensburg (Rsa), John Wither (Sco), 71 - Jun Tae-Hyun (Kor), Thammanoon Sriroj (Tha), Shaifubari

Muda (Mas), Simon Yates (Sco), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha),

Peter Fowler (Aus), Glenn Joyner (Aus), M Ramayah (Mas)