Jyoti Randhawa's impeccable opening round with four-under 68 placed him joint fifth at the at the 140 million yen Casio World event in Ibusuki GC Kaimon C at Kagosima on Thursday.

Randhawa's round today was studded with birdies on the second, seventh, eighth and the 13th.

Local pro Katsumune Imai assumed the sole lead with an error-free round of seven-under 65 on the penultimate event on the Japanese PGA Tour's 2003 calendar.

Dinesh Chand, Soushi Tajima and Koki Idoki were tied second, one stroke behind the leader.

Jyoti Randhawa has given an excellent account of himself in what is his Rookie season on the tough Japanese Tour.

Randhawa made everybody sit-up and take notice when he returned a historic win at the Suntory Open at Chiba in August.

The 31-year-old returned 28 putts for his round which would have been even better had he not missed five greens in regulation.

"I am happy with the way I played. My ball striking was exemplary and but for the odd occasion, my short game too was pretty much up to the mark," he said.

Meanwhile, another Indian in the fray, Jeev Milkha Singh had a nightmarish outing with a seven-over 79 handing him the sole 99th position.

Scores (after 18 holes): 65_Katsumune Imai; 67_Dinesh Chand, Saushi Tajima, Koki Idoki; 68_Jyoti Randhawa, Tsuyoshi Yoneyama, Prayad Marksaeng, Frankie Minoza; 69_Yoshitaka Yamamoto, Takashi Kanemoto, Wei Tze Yeh, Go Higaki, Mamoru Osanai, Shigemasa Higaki, Katsunori Kuwabara.