Kuala Lumpur: Australian Nathan Holman fired a flawless seven-under-par 64 to seize the first round lead at the inaugural Maybank Championship Malaysia with Filipino ace Angelo Que leading the chasing pack yesterday.
Nathan Holman tees off at the 17th hole during yesterday’s first round.
The 24-year-old Holman needed only 27 putts, including nine one-putts, at Royal Selangor Golf Club to lead in the US$3 million event jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
The colourful Que, nicknamed “Human Highlighter” for his bright sense of dressing, also sank seven birdies but a lone bogey on the 16th hole saw him end the day alongside Jorge Campillo of Spain, Frenchman Alexander Levy, American Peter Uihlein and English duo Tommy Fleetwood and world No.13 Danny Willett.
Thailand’s Prom Meesawat, Thongchai Jaidee, Korean duo KT Kim and Lee Soo-Min and Filipino Miguel Tabuena, who nearly withdrew due to food poisoning, were amongst those lying a further shot back with 66s.
Holman was rock steady and whenever he found trouble, he got up-and-down on four occasions to keep the bogeys off the card at Royal Selangor, which is the second oldest golf course in Malaysia.
“There’re a lot of chances but you get in the rough and it can really grab you, so seven under, I’m really happy with that,” he said.
Que, decked in bright orange and yellow apparel, also enjoyed a good day on the greens, needing only 25 strokes to give himself a chance of ending a nearly six-year title drought.
Veteran star Thongchai, the only player to lift three Asian Tour Order of Merit titles, struggled with his driver but his flat stick kept him in the hunt for a 14th Asian Tour victory.
“I didn’t have good drives but my putting helped me. I was bogey free and I felt very confident on the greens. If you hit it on the green, you will have a good chance to score because I like the green speed,” said the former Thai paratrooper.
Reigning Philippine Open champion Tabuena rose from his sick bed to shoot a fine 66. He came down with food poisoning on Tuesday and was in bed the whole of Wednesday.
“It was a good thing that I had a late tee time for some extra rest. I was really, really sick both ways on Wednesday and Tuesday. I thought of withdrawing but you don’t want to miss a prestigious event like this,” said the 21-year-old.
The 31-year-old Prom, a double Asian Tour winner, conceded he got lucky en route to his six-birdie round as he ended the day two off the pace.
“I’m not in very good form at the moment but I hit the driver so well today and that’s the key to a good score on this course. After I made two birdies, I put myself in a very comfortable position. From there I kept playing well and I felt relaxed,” said Prom.
Willet, the highest ranked player in the field, holed a snaky birdie putt on his last hole to feature amongst the leaders.
“It was a very mixed bag. I hit it very nicely on the front nine but made nothing. It was one of those days where you put two very different nines together and got a good score,” said the in-form Englishman, who won in Dubai two weeks ago.