Frenchman Alexander Levy continued his love affair with China's golf courses by kicking off the European Tour's Final Series with a seven-under-par 65 to lead after Thursday's first round of the BMW Masters in Shanghai.


Levy cheap nike air max 90 flyknit , who won the Tour's China Open in April, fired -seven birdies in a bogey-free round to lead by one stroke at Lake Malaran from Argentine Emiliano Grillo, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and another Frenchman, Romain Wattel.


Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell also went bogey-free, firing a five-under 67 to sit in fifth at the first event of the European Tour's lucrative final four of the season, which offer more than $30 million in combined prize money. But they were all short of the 24-year-old Levy, who showed some hot form on a cool, damp morning.


Starting on the 10th, Levy opened with four birdies before getting to five under by sending a pinpoint iron at the 200-yard (182.88-meter) par-three 17th to six feet to make the turn in 31.


Another shot was gained at the second before he completed his round by rolling in a 12-foot putt at his last for a birdie three and a 65.


It was the Frenchman's fifth straight sub-par round in China after his four-shot win at the Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.


Levy has been in strong form of late, claiming his last stroke-play event at the curtailed Portugal Masters earlier this month to become the first Frenchman to win at least twice in a single European Tour season.


Levy is 19th in the Tour's Race to Dubai standings but a strong showing at the $7 million event in Shanghai can help rocket him up the money list.


World No.1 Rory McIlroy is well clear at the top of the standings but he is skipping this week's event and the following World Golf Championship HSBC Champions tournament, also in Shanghai, next week.


Second-placed Sergio Garcia is also absent this week, opting to compete at the PGA Tour's event in Malaysia, while Henrik Stenson, third on the list, is also missing from the 78-man field.


Welshman Jamie Donaldson, fourth in the Race to Dubai, made a good start in Shanghai with a four-under 68 to sit in a group of six players, including victorious Ryder Cup-winning teammate Thomas Bjorn, who is fifth in the money race.


Li Haotong and Hu Mu led the local charge with the Chinese pair firing 69s to sit tied 12th alongside multiple major winner Ernie Els and Italian Francesco Molinari. The Italian's brother Eduardo, one back at two under, produced the shot of the day with a hole-in-one at the 212-yard fourth.

Lionel Messi (Source:Xinhua file photo)

BUENOS AIRES， June 9 (Xinhua) -- Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi will be among the starting eleven on Friday against Panama in the 2016 Centennial Copa America held in the United States， confirmed the national team's coach， Gerardo Martino， on Thursday.


"Leo trained normally with the group， now there is no need for special work (with him). He is going to play，" assured Martino during a news conference held in the U.S. city of Chicago.


The Barcelona star suffered a blow to his hip while playing for his national side in the friendly match against Honduras on May 27. This hindered his tournament debut in the opening match on Monday against Chile leaving him sitting on the bench watching his team play.


"The match against Chile was missing ball movements. there were four days between the Chile match and the Panama one. Since Wednesday， he (Messi) has trained with the group and the truth is that he has done so without pain and we can't see any reason why he would not play，" added the Argentina coach.


Martino said that Messi "is very motivated by the performance of his teammates against Chile，" where Argentina won 2-1 with goals from Agel Di Maria and Ever Banega.


Martino also admitted that defeating the Copa America defending champions without their team captain "is a very important handicap."


Argentina's second match in the tournament will be played in Chicago on Friday at 21:30 local time (1:30 GMT on Saturday) against Panama who defeated Bolivia 2-1 in their opening match.