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Pearce, who started his round at the 10th hole,
eagled the par-five first before making three birdies in
succession at the seaside Natadola Bay Golf Course.
New Zealander Ben Campbell and Australia's Daniel Valente both
mounted late charges to finish one behind in joint second, with
Malaysia's Gavin Green a shot further adrift with a clutch of
Australians at the European Tour event, which is co-sanctioned
by the PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tour.
Local favorite Vijay Singh was five back on one-under, the
former world number one and triple major champion carrying an
elbow injury through a typically windy day at Sigatoka.
"Before the round started if you told me I'd take one-under, I
would because it was supposed to be pretty breezy," Singh told
reporters.
"I was suspect to play. It's really bugging me (when) I get to
the top of my back-swing, so I had to shorten my back-swing to
play," he said of the elbow problem.
"But considering I was hurting that bad, I played OK."
Twice major champion Angel Cabrera faltered with three bogeys in
his last five holes to finish with an even-par 72, along with
fellow U.S. Masters winner Mike Weir.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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