Shahriffuddin Ariffin carded an opening round of seven-under-par 65 to sit atop of the leaderboard at the inaugural PGM KIA Championship. Hariz Hezri did the amateur ranks proud when he tied with the pro on 65 at the Glenmarie Resort & Golf Club.
South-East Games (SEA) Games individual gold medallist Ervin Chang was third after a six-under round left him just one shot off the lead, and one ahead of Nicholas Fung, who managed a 67.
Kemarol Baharin, Paul San, Khor Kheng Hwai and Wilson Choo were joint fifth after they all signed for rounds of 68, with Danial Faidz and Kenneth De Silva tied for ninth on 69.
On a day of good scoring the top-three in the ladies section shot under-par rounds with Dianne Luke leading the way with a five-under 67. Mirabel Ting, a silver medallist at the Sea Games in Vietnam last week, was second with a three-under 69 and Aretha Pan third with a two-under 70.
Kenneth Tobuse, who finished the first day in a tie for 13th place on one-under 71, marked his opening round with a hole-in-one. He hit the perfect shot on the 2nd hole with a 7-iron.
The PGM Tour, which resumed in February after a two-year absence caused by the pandemic, certainly had good reason to cheer with the opening round of the KIA Championship. And general manager Nik Mustapha Nik Mohamed said so.
“We are pleased with the start of this inaugural event. There was good play in both the men’s and women’s fields, and it was good to see the amateur players doing well too.,” said PGM General Manager Nik Mustapha of the tournament that carries RM120,000 prize money for the men, and RM20,000 for the women.
Leading Scores
Men
1 Hariz Hezri (A) -7 65
1 Shahriffuddin Ariffin -7 65
3 Ervin Chang (A) -6 66
4 Nicholas Fung -5 67
5 Kemarol Baharin -4 68
5 Paul San -4 68
5 Khor Kheng Hwai -4 68
5 Wilson Choo -4 68
9 Danial Faidz -3 69
9 Kenneth De Silva -3 69
11 Sukree Othman -2 70
11 Ben Leong -2 70
13 Kenneth Tobuse -1 71
13 Kim Leun Kwang -1 71
13 Zurie Harun -1 71
13 Daeng Abdul Rahman -1 71
13 M. Sasidaran -1 71
13 Danny Chia -1 71
Ladies
1 Dianne Luke -5 67
2 Mirabel Ting (A) -3 69
3 Aretha Pan -2 70
4 Ainil Johani Bakar +2 74
