South Korean pair Ma Soo-kil and Lee Sang-hee have hit six-under 66s to share the lead after the first round of the Volvik Hildesheim Open as Australian Scott Hend sits two strokes off the pace. Ma, however, hit five birdies, an eagle and a bogey on his way to the top of the leaderboard on Thursday, while Lee did not drop a shot to finish alongside his countryman. Ma was thrilled with his first-round performance. “My best ever score in my professional career was a 67 so today&aposs 66 is a good achievement,” he said. “As the round went on, I could feel that my confidence was getting better and better.” Ma and Lee lead the inaugural tournament at the Hildesheim Country Club by one stroke ahead of fellow Koreans Choi Ho-sung and Kim Dae-hyun. A group of seven players, including Australian Hend, are a further shot back on four under. Hend, who has won twice on the Asian Tour, admitted he struggled with the slow greens at the Asian Tour event. “Because it&aposs a new golf course, the greens are quite slow,” Hend said. “So if you hit it onto the wrong tier, it can be hard to judge the speed going up to the next top tier. “I struggled with that today and left a couple of shots out there by misjudging the speed of the greens.”