Five players share lead at suspended Ballantine's Championship

Seoul, South Korea – South Korea native Gi-whan Kim was one of five players to card a 5-under 67 at the Ballantine's Championship Thursday before play was suspended for darkness.

Earlier in the day, play was delayed for over two hours at Blackstone Golf Course because of rain and poor visibility due to fog.

Kim is joined atop the leaderboard by Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Kieran Pratt, Johan Edfors and Matthew Baldwin.

"It was good to put my name up right away, because I haven't played like this for more than a year," said Gonnet.

Peter Lawrie and Jung Hwan Lee share sixth place at 4-under 68, while world No. 7 Louis Oosthuizen and Tommy Fleetwood are alongside them at minus-4 but have not finished their opening rounds.

The first round will conclude Friday prior to the start of the second round.

Kim opened with consecutive pars before rolling in back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth.

He dropped a shot with a bogey at the ninth, but later recorded three straight birdies from the 13th to move to 4-under.

A bogey at the 16th snapped the streak, and he closed with an eagle at the last to grab a share of the lead.

Baldwin also recorded a pair of bogeys during his round, with the first coming at the ninth after he started strong with three birdies over his first four holes.

He quickly bounced back with a birdie at the 10th that was later followed by consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th.

Baldwin ended his round by trading a bogey at the 17th with a birdie at the 18th.

Edfors quickly moved up the leaderboard with five birdies over a seven-hole stretch starting at the third before stumbling to his lone birdie of the day at the 11th.

After parring the next two holes, he got that stroke back at the 14th and finished with four straight pars.

"I was really happy I came out of the block pretty good there on the front nine and played some really, really good golf," Edfors said.

Gonnet and Pratt, meanwhile, each cruised through a bogey-free round to grab a share of the lead.

Gonnet poured in four birdies over his outward nine and closed with another birdie at the last, while Pratt started slow with one birdie and eight pars over his front nine before picking up another shot at the 11th and closing with three straight birdies from the 16th.

NOTES: In-Woo Lee withdrew during the first round. He was 12-over through 11 holes before withdrawing ... The first round will restart at 7:30 a.m. local time and the second round will start no sooner than 9:00 a.m. ... Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger was able to finish his first round and carded a 1- under 71. He sits among a large group of players tied for 34th place ... Americans Dustin Johnson and Zach Johnson withdrew from the tournament on Monday due to the "perceived unrest on the Korean Peninsula."