Fine run for Nicholas on first day
Published on: Friday, March 22, 2019
PETALING JAYA: National professional player, Nicholas Fung has emerged as the best Malaysian player in the opening round of Maybank Golf Championship 2019 at Saujana Golf and Country Club, Subang.
Fung, 29, who shared the seventh position in the first round, carded five birdies and a bogey for a four-under-par 68, three shots behind joint leaders Australia’s Marcus Fraser and Spain’s Nacho Elvira.
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The Sabahan, who will be tying the knot at end of this year, hopes to create a miracle by winning the championship this year.
“Of course I’m hoping to do some wonders to win Maybank Championship this year. Overall I’m happy with my performance today. I started off back nine (from 10th hole), which is my first nine, I’ve been struggling the whole nine and it’s like up and down all the time.
“But I managed to shoot one under. On the front nine, everything was back to normal and I’m really happy with my play,” he told the media after finishing the round Thursday. Fung who did not want to put any pressure Friday, also said the windy weather condition did not affect his focus.
Meanwhile, young national golfer, Shahriffuddin Ariffin who also shot well Thursday hoped to make the cut this edition.
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Shahriffuddin, 20, in his second appearance at the champion hoped to redeem his disappointment in the previous tournament due to an illness.
This year, Shahriffuddin was clearly an improved man when he fired three birdies and two bogeys for a one-under-par 71 in the opening round.
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National number one, Gavin Kyle Green, who started in the evening, could only card a 74, two above par after collecting two birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.
There are 13 Malaysian professional players taking in this edition.
Meanwhile, Fraser and Elvira shared the first round lead by returning identical seven-under-par 65s.
Fraser, who won the inaugural Maybank Championship in 2016, surprised himself with his position on the leaderboard after considering himself as a ‘part-time golfer’ nowadays.
Elvira, on the other hand, was delighted with his scores as he did not play well in the past few weeks of the
Philippines’ Angelo Que opened his campaign at the US$3 million event in a blistering pace, getting to nine-under after 11 holes.
However, two double-bogeys on the 15th and 16th hole knocked him off the perch of the leaderboard.
Que stood in joint third place with Matthias Schwab of Austria and current Asian Tour’s Order of Merit leader, Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand.
Jazz, who is the three-time Asian Tour winner, marked his card with seven birdies and a bogey to stay just one shot off the pace with an encouraging 66.
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