Jakarta: England's Justin Rose threw down the gauntlet on his closest rivals by charging ahead with a sensational first round 10-under-par 62 to grab the first round lead at the Indonesian Masters yesterday.
The world No.6 took advantage of the benign early morning conditions to power his way to the top with a flawless card marked by 10 birdies at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club. It would have been a course record for the Olympic gold medallist if not for the preferred lie ruling which was in force.
"That is a dream start to be honest with you," said Rose, who only missed one green and had a total of 26 putts.
"I birdied the first hole. I felt comfortable from the outset. Did all the right things today I suppose, I put the ball in play from the tee.
"Obviously with ball in hand and placing the ball on the fairway, you had a perfect lie for every shot provided you put the ball in the fairway. So that is what I did well and was able to take advantage."
Thailand's Gunn Charoenkul gave his merit battle a lifeline by opening with a 64 to stay two shots back of Rose in second place while compatriot Phachara Khongwatmai remained in the mix with a 65, which saw him share third place with South Korea's Kim Gi-Whan at the Asian Tour's season-ending flagship event.
"I think it's the best I have played so far this year, didn't make any mistakes at all," said Gunn, who is currently lying in 111th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He needs to break into the top-61 on the money list to secure his tour card for 2018.
"It was a near perfect round where I put myself in a good position up there on the leaderboard."
Phachara was equally pleased with his performance.
"I am very proud of how I played today. Today was good because the weather was perfect and there was no wind. I chipped really good today," said Phachara.
"It has been a long time since I felt so good about my game and I am very happy that I got back the feeling on the first day of this tournament. I won't think about the leading score. I am just going to play my own game. I will just stick to hitting it on the fairways and playing the same game like today."
Singapore's Choo Tze Huang, who is playing on a sponsor's invitation, enjoyed an encouraging start by posting a 66 to grab a share of fifth place together with Australia's Ashley Hall and Lu Wei-chih of Taiwan.
Playing in his first event overseas after earning a one-year exemption on the Asian Tour, China's Xiao Bowen also had an encouraging start with his first round 68 as did another Thai star Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who won the Thongchai Jaidee Foundation on Sunday.