Johor Bahru: Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung fired a six-under-par 66 to grab the joint first round lead with Wolmer Murillo of Venezuela in the PGM-Maybank Johor Masters on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old local hope shot seven birdies against a lone bogey on his last hole at the Johor Country Club to put himself in position to win a first title on the Asian Development Tour, which is the feeder circuit to the established Asian Tour.
Newcomer Murillo also enjoyed a strong start as he carded eight birdies against two drop shots to share first day honours with Fung, who had finished runner-up in the previous ADT event in Malaysia.
American James Bowen, who is leading the ADT Order of Merit, and Malaysian veteran Rashid Ismail are tied for third following rounds of 67 while Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Tung-shu and England’s Grant Jackson are a further shot back in the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) tournament which is co-sanctioned with the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour.
Fung, who earned his Asian Tour card from Qualifying School in January, opted to play in the Maybank Johor Masters this week after missing three straight cuts in Malaysia, Thailand and India on the main Tour over the past three weeks.
He was delighted his decision paid off with a solid start in Johor. “I wanted to play in Malaysia to build back some confidence after missing three straight cuts. I hit it good today and made some putts. The irons were working well,” said Fung.
The highlight of his round came at the par four 12th hole when he missed the green and his ball ended on the fringe of the jungle without a sight to the flag. However, Fung amazingly chipped in for birdie although he was disappointed to bogey the demanding 18th hole which would have given him the outright lead.
“I got lucky on 12 as I couldn’t see the pin from where I was. Somehow, I managed to chip the ball into the hole for birdie which was a bonus as I was staring at a bogey,” said Fung. “18 is a very tough hole and I didn’t hit a very good chip and just missed the putt.”
Wolmer, who missed out on his Asian Tour card from Qualifying School, thanked a hot putter for his good round. “I just dropped a lot of birdie putts which was nice. The greens were rolling really good and I took advantage as I hit almost every fairway and green in regulation,” said Wolmer.
Unlike Fung, Wolmer finished strongly with two closing birdies. “The last birdie was good as I had 203 yards into a difficult green but I managed to hit it to about three meters and made the putt. It was a very fast putt,” he said.
Title holder Luke Bleumink of Australia started his defence with a solid 69 which included four birdies.
The top three players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn Asian Tour cards for 2014 while all events receive Official World Golf Ranking points from this season onwards.
Leading first round scores
66: Wolmer MURILLO (VEN), Nicholas FUNG (MAS)
67: James BOWEN (USA), Rashid ISMAIL (MAS)
68: HSIEH Tung-shu (TPE), Grant JACKSON (ENG)
69: Hendre Izak CELLIERS (RSA) 69, Akhmal TARMIZEE (MAS), Darren TAN (AUS), Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA), Luke BLEUMINK (AUS), Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN), Iain STEEL (MAS) Spencer SHISHIDO (USA)