Indian golfers Anirban Lahiri and S.S.P. Chawrasia carded two-under 70 and 70 to be tied 33rd and joint 63rd respectively after the opening round of the $7 million CIMB Classic here on Thursday.
Asian Tour leader Lahiri got birdies on the fifth, ninth and 16th holes against a bogey on the 12th hole for a 70 to share the spot with 16 others at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s West course.
Chawrasia, fourth in the Asian Tour Order of Merit, scored birdies on the seventh, ninth, 13th and 15th against a bogey on the 12th along with a double-bogey on the par-four 13th for an even-par 72.
Lahiri said: I think I struggled all day. Never got on a run. Just came out in the morning and didn’t start very well. All in all, quite disappointed, actually.
“The course is playing really gettable. You can see from the scoring that there’s a lot of birdies to be made. There’s no rough. The greens are a little softer than they are usually,” the 28-year-old from Bengaluru added.
“But I’m still happy that I at least managed to finish with a birdie, because it was a struggle all day.”
Meanwhile, American Scott Piercy fired 10 birdies to lead the opening round of the with a sparkling 10-under 62.
The 37-year-old matched the low score, thanks to five birdies on each nine in the prestigious event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour.
Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama carded a 65 to lie three shots back in second place while Alex Cejka of Germany, Australian Cameron Smith and the American trio of Jason Gore, Charles Howell III and Keegan Bradley shot 66s to share the third place.
Shot of the day belonged to Scott Brown of the United States, who aced (hole-in-one) the par-three 15th hole with a six iron to drive away with a RM1.192 million (approximately $278,000) BMW i8. He ended the day with a 68, six shots back.
World No.42 Piercy rode on a hot putter as he reeled in three opening birdies before collecting more gains on fifth and seventh. He snared five more birdies coming home, including a chip-in for birdie on the 13th from 10 feet.
