Kota Kinabalu, Sabah: Local favourite Nicholas Fung leads the field with a five-under-par 67 after a low scoring first round at the RM200,000 Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Sabah Classic.

A product of the Sabah Golf & Country Club – where the eleventh leg of the burgeoning PGM Tour is taking place this week – the 21-year-old made his way around the course effortlessly, carding six birdies before conceding his only blemish of the day at the par-five finishing hole for a slim one-shot lead over Khor Kheng Hwai.

PGM Terengganu Classic winner Shaaban Hussin, Haziq Hamizan and Akhmal Tarmizee Nazari are a further three shots adrift after matching 71s with the trio of Danny Chia, Sukree Othman and Sabahan Ben Leong completing the list of players on even par or better with rounds of 72.

Still fresh from his personal best finish of tied-12th at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters, Fung, who plays on OneAsia was happy with his performance despite a gruelling schedule over the last month.

“Familiarity with the course helped for sure and I’m happy with my round today, albeit for the late bogey. This is my fourth tournament in as many weeks, so conserving my energy is going to be key if I’m going to be challenging for the win come Thursday. Hopefully, my form from Kota Permai will continue,” said Fung.

A total of 69 players are in the fray this week with 12 amateurs invited as part of the PGM Tour’s effort to groom future professionals by giving amateurs a competitive platform to assess their games. National amateur Jeremiah Kim is tied 14th after opening with a round of four-over 76 today.

Leading first round scores
67 Nicholas Fung
68 Khor Kheng Hwai
71 Shaaban Hussin, Haziq Hamizan, Akhmal Tarmizee
72 Danny Chia, Ben Leong, Sukree Othman
74 S. Sivachandhran
75 R. Nachimuthu, P. Gunasegaran, Mohd Nazri Mohd Zain, Iylia Jamil