Thursday October 18, 2007, 02:34 PM

Rising Chinese star Li Chao grabbed a one-shot first-round lead at the Omega Championship on Thursday as he bids to round off his stellar season in winning style.

Li, who has already secured the China Tour's Order of Merit title, fired a three-under-par 69 to underline his authority in the season's final event, leading Fan Zhipeng and Chinese trailblazer Zhang Lianwei.

"I have totally devoted my time to the China Tour this year and it has really paid off. Next year I will start thinking more about the Asian and Japan Tours," said Li, 27.

Li carded an eagle, two birdies and a bogey in the 100,000-dollar event at Tianan Golf Club, watched by his ever-present mother. He has already triumphed three times on this season's tour, which has eight stops.

Zhang, who won the Merit list last year and is in second place this season with two wins, rallied with a back nine of three-under-par 33 with birdies on 10, 13 and 16.

"It was quite cold so it took me some time to get going. I would certainly like to win this week, even though Li has already claimed the number one spot," said Zhang.

Qiu Zhifeng lies a stroke further back with one-under 71 on the par-72 course.

Leading first-round scores (par 72, a denotes amateur, China unless stated):

69 - Li Chao

70 - Zhang Lianwei, Fan Zhipeng

71 - Qiu Zhifeng

72 - Liu Anda, Deng Yonghong, Chen Yu, Wang Terchang (TPE)

74 - Gu Shutao, Zhang Meng, Lu Wenteh (TPE), Wu Kangchun, Tuo Wentao, Zhang Jiyong, Su Dong (a), Wang Lei

© 2007 AFP/sid