Jasin [MELAKA]: Filipino Mars Pucay continued his rich vein of form by firing an opening six-under-par 66 to lead by one shot at the PGM Tiara Championship on Wednesday.
The 45-year-old Pucay, who claimed a runner-up finish on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) a fortnight ago, hit all but one green in regulation which yielded seven birdies against a lone bogey at the Tiara Melaka Golf and Country Club.
Order of Merit leader Casey O’Toole marked his card with two eagles and four birdies against three bogeys to settle one shot back in second place while Andrew Wirawan of Indonesia took third following a 68 at the RM200,000 (approx. US$50,000) ADT event.
Thailand’s Wisut Artjanawat, together with local duo Airil Rizman and Kenneth De Silva carded matching 69s to share fourth place while Finland’s Janne Kaske trailed by four shots in seventh place on his own at the PGM Tiara Championship.
Pucay credited his booming drives for the blistering start. “My ball striking was really good and I was able to capitalize on that. Everything went well for me. I putted decently and made a few up-and-downs. I was just riding on the momentum out there,” he said.
The Filipino got off to a flying start with three birdies in his opening five holes but three-putted for a bogey on eighth. He recovered with another birdie on 12th before closing with three straight birdies to sit atop the leaderboard.
“I started off well. I sank a 30-foot birdie putt on third which really got my game going. The runner-up finish in Malaysia two weeks ago gave me a lot of confidence. I struggled with my game earlier. It’s great to be back in good form again. Hopefully I can maintain it for the next few rounds,” added Pucay.
Leading first round scores (Par-72)>
Malaysian unless stated
66 – Mars Pucay (PHI)
67 – Casey O’Toole (USA)
68 – Andrew Wirawan (INA)
69 – Airil Rizman Zahari, Wisut Artjanawat (THA), Kenneth De Silva
70 – Janne Kaske (FIN)
71 – Supravee Phatam (THA), Arie Irawan, Sean Riordan (NZL), Reagan Png (SIN), Rocky Khara (USA), Shakhawat Sohel (BAN), Hsieh Chi-hsien (TPE), Lim Eng Seng, Nicholas Fung
