KUALA LUMPUR: Reigning Order of Merit champion Nicholas Fung battled against a strained right arm to grab a share of the clubhouse lead with Koh Deng Shan of Singapore at the weather-disrupted Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) UMW Championship on Wednesday.

The pair returned with matching five-under-par 66s tosecured a one-shot advantage over Scott Barr of Australia, Japan’s Masaru Takahashi, Steve Lewton of England and American Roberto Galletti at the RM200,000 (approx. US$44,600) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Play was suspended at 5:03pm local time due to lightning threats before being abandoned for the day an hour later due to heavy rain. A total of 48 players will resume their rounds at 7:30am on Thursday morning with the second round scheduled to start at 8:00am.

Fung, the 2013 ADT Order of Merit champion, had contemplated pulling out before the start of his round at the TPC Kuala Lumpur’s East Course after failing to shake off a persistent muscle pain in his right arm, which he incurred during his practice a week ago.

“I am very happy with how I played, considering my arm injury. I went to see a physiotherapist two days ago but have yet to recover. I wanted to pull out this morning as it has been really painful for the last two days. But I told myself to just go out and play. I thought I should be fine as long as I don’t hit it too hard,” said Fung.

“I hit the ball good and I was able to make putts. Nothing stood out really. Everything went well for me. I was able to hit it close. My iron-play was good. This is a course where everybody can score. The aim is to not make any bogeys, we will see how it goes,” added the 26-year-old Malaysian, who fired seven birdies against two bogeys.