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Warren, 35, ended a glorious scoring day two strokes ahead of the the talented Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand, thanks to a flying 63 highlighted by one eagle and seven birdies as he chases a fourth European Tour victory and first since 2014.
Thai teenage wonder Phachara Khongwatmai fired a solid seven-under-par 65 to trail first round leader Marc Warren of Scotland after the first round of the Maybank Championship on Thursday. The 17-year-old Phachara, who has posted four top-five finishes in his last eight starts, nailed eight birdies against a lone bogey at Saujana Golf and Country Club’s Palm course to put himself in the hunt for a maiden Asian Tour title at the US$3 million showpiece sanctioned with the European Tour.
Malaysia’s Arie Irawan was amongst a group of six golfers bunched on 66, three off the pace, after he carded a fine bogey-free 66. The 26-year-old was tied with Masters Tournament winner Danny Willett of England, American Peter Uihlein, Germany’s Marcel Siem, Australia’s Sam Brazel and India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar.
Korea’s Soomin Lee, who finished tied second in the inaugural Maybank Championship last year, put himself in position for another title crack with a 67 which featured five birdies on his card.
Interesting Facts for the Day
Scores after round 1 of the Maybank Championship being played at the par 72, 7186 Yards Saujana GCC course (am - denotes amateur):
63 - Marc WARREN (SCO).
65 - Phachara KHONGWATMAI (THA).
66 - Arie IRAWAN (MAS), Danny WILLETT (ENG), Peter UIHLEIN (USA), Marcel SIEM (GER), Sam BRAZEL (AUS), Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND).
67 - Soomin LEE (KOR), Lasse JENSEN (DEN).
68 - Richard T. LEE (CAN), Shubhankar SHARMA (IND), Romain WATTEL (FRA), Gavin GREEN (MAS), K.T. KIM (KOR), Robert KARLSSON (SWE), David LIPSKY (USA), Niall TURNER (IRL).
69 - Nino BERTASIO (ITA), Bernd WIESBERGER (AUT), LU Wei-chih (TPE), Alexander LEVY (FRA), Renato PARATORE (ITA), Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA), Gregory HAVRET (FRA), CHAN Shih-chang (TPE), Prom MEESAWAT (THA), Anirban LAHIRI (IND), Lucas BJERREGAARD (DEN), Siddikur RAHMAN (BAN).
Selected
71: Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha).
73: Lee Westwood (Eng)