South African Neil Schietekat and debutant Toshiumi Kushioka of Japan lead by one shot at the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage, opening their campaigns with matching seven-under-par 64s on course A&B at Lake View Resort and Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand.
The 36-year-old Schietekat, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, returned with a bogey-free round highlighted by seven birdies to sit atop the leaderboard with Kushioka, who had progressed from Section A of the First Stage Qualifying School last month, where he finished tied-13th on the same venue.
Benjamin Follett-smith, the only Zimbabwean in the 244-man field this week, rediscovered his best form by carding a flawless 65 to share third place with American Seungjae Maeng, Korea’s Dongeun Kim and Karan Pratap Singh of India following the opening round of the 90-hole battle that was held across courses A&B and C&D.
Law graduate Natipong Srithong of Thailand signed for the lowest round of the day at the C&D course with a 66. The 26-year-old sits two shots back in seventh place alongside American Miguel Delgado, Korea’s Taehoon Ok and Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden.
The 10-strong Malaysian contingent had a tough opening day with Brandon Lau posting the best score of one-over-par 72 on the A&B course to lie in T123 place.
Malaysia’s T. Kiishan and Zafran Abdullah (Photo courtesy of Tharma Lingam)
“The course is good with healthy fairways and greens running about 10 on the stimp. The main hazard here is the wind which plays plays havoc with distances. You’ve got to be lucky to get a windless stretch of holes,” said Tharma Lingam, who is on the bag this week for son T. Kiishan who carded 77 to lie T228.
After the completion of 36 holes tomorrow, the field will be cut to the leading 140 players and ties. After 72 holes, the field will be trimmed again to the leading 70 players and ties, who will then play the fifth and final round. At the conclusion of 90 holes on Sunday, the leading 35 players and ties will earn their Asian Tour cards and be ranked accordingly for the 2020 season.
Malaysian Scores: 72 – Brandon Lau (T123); 73 – Daeng Abdul Rahman, Amir Nazrin (T159); 74 – U-Minn Woon, Shahriffuddin Ariffin (T175); 75 – Paul San (T203); 76 – Irfan Yusof (T220); 77 – Muhd Zafran Abdullah, T. Kiishaan (T228); 85 – Jaydon Pang (243).
