Australia’s Marcus Fraser put himself in line for a second Maybank Championship title with a superb seven-under-par 65 in today’s opening round, jointly topping the leaderboard with Spaniard Nacho Elvira at Saujana Golf & Country Club.
Both Fraser and Elvira raked up eight birdies against just one dropped shot each at Saujana’s Palm Course as they made full use of the benign morning conditions. Strong winds that picked up in the afternoon made scoring considerably tougher, which was reflected in the scores of those who had late starts.
“It’s been a good day … I played steady all day and putted really well,” said Fraser, who won the inaugural event at Royal Selangor Golf Club in 2016.
“I’ve been playing well having a hit at home, but I haven’t played a whole lot of competitive golf. It was nice to go out and play well in a great tournament,” he added.
In joint second place on six-under-par were rising Thai star Jazz Janewattananond, Austra’s Matthias Schwab and Filipino stalwart Angelo Que.
Que had got to off to a flying start with nine birdies in his first 11 holes, but made consecutive double bogeys on 15 and 16. He did well to recover with a closing birdie at the par-five 18th.
Leading the home challenge was Nicholas Fung, who shot an excellent four-under-par 68 and is in joint seventh place. Malaysian No 1 Gavin Green struggled in the windy conditions and returned a two-over-par 74.
Defending champion Shubhankar Sharma of India carded a one-under-par 71 to lie in joint 41st spot.
Leading Round 1 Scores:
65 – Marcus Fraser (AUS), Nacho Elvira (ESP).
66 – Matthias Schwab (AUT), Jazz Janewattananond (THA), Angelo Que (PHI).
67 – Thomas Pieters (BEL).
68 – Poom Saksansin (THA), Ernie Els (RSA), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Brandon Stone (RSA), Dean Burmester (RSA), Prom Meesawat (THA), Zach Murray (AUS), Nicholas Fung (MAS).
