Langkawi: Reigning Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour Order of Merit champion Nicholas Fung lies three strokes off the clubhouse lead at the rain-interrupted opening round of the PGM LADA Langkawi Masters on Thursday.
Fung was the best-placed local on six-under 66 as Nils Floren of Sweden shot his career’s best round of nine-under 63 at Gunung Raya Golf Resort. Jame Byrne of Scotland, a former Walker Cup star, and newcomer Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden were a further shot back on matching 64s at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) co-sanctioned event.
A total of 15 players will return on Friday morning to complete their first round after play was stopped for two hours due thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Floren, who is playing in his second year in Asia, took advantage of his sweet-hitting iron play and was rewarded with nine birdies from inside 15 feet. He earned an Asian Tour card at Qualifying School last year but failed to retain his playing rights for the new season.
“There was nothing special going on but I was never in trouble. It was a normal round but I hit my irons well and gave myself chances. This is my best score and I had a lot of fun on the course,” said the 23-year-old, who is searching for a first professional win.
“I have an old friend caddying for me this week and it was great. I wasn’t very down on myself when I lost my Asian Tour card last year because I feel that I’m fairly young and I’m happy to play professional golf as a career,” said Floren.
Byrne, who won the season-opening PGM CCM Rahman Putra Masters in February, bounced back into form with a more relaxed approach.
“Maybe the reason why I play so well on the ADT is because I feel more relaxed. I guess I need to maintain this relaxed attitude when I’m playing on the Asian Tour,” said Byrne, who earned his Tour card in Qualifying School in Thailand earlier this year.
“I haven’t been playing quite as well since winning at Rahman Putra because the standard on the Asian Tour is so much higher. I guess I have to take this approach with me onto the main Tour next time,” he said.
Leading first round scores (Malaysians unless indicated)
63 – Nils Floren (SWE)
64 – James Byrne (SCO), Malcolm Kokocinski (SWE)
66 – Nicholas Fung (MAS)
67 – Wasin Sripattranusorn (THA)
68 – Pasavee Lertvilai (THA), Mitsuhiko Hashizume (JPN), Lee Shih-hung (TPE), Ben Campbell (NZL)
69 – Michael Moore (AUS), Lindsay Renolds (CAN), Darren Tan (AUS)
70 – Shaaban Hussin, Chris Carey (AUS), YANG Fei-hao (TPE), Nicholas Pua, George Gandranata (INA), Hans Jamil, Adam Blyth (AUS), R. Nachimuthu, David Palm (SWE), Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Ian Keenan (ENG)
