Seeking a fifth Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Tour title, Sukree Othman made a great start to realising the ambition as he blitzed the Kinrara Golf Club course with a five-under-par 65 to lead after the opening round of the RM180,000 Kinrara Closed Championship today.
With three runner-up finishes in 2014 and his last win on the Tour clinched the year before that, Sukree said he was more than keen on ending the drought and aimed to build on his promising start today and recent events where he showed good form.
“I putted well today,” he said, after securing a two-shot lead over Kenneth De Silva and Abel Tam. “I also swung the club well and struck the ball well.
“Now I must try to maintain this from and see if I can go all the way (on to winning the event). I have played well in recent tournaments and today it was really very good.
“But there is still a long way to go, so we will see what happens,” he said, adding that the greens, and the course in general, was in good nick.
Those sentiments were echoed by Kalana Ibrahim, who himself has shown some good form in flashes and fired a three-under 68 for a tie for fourth with R. Nachimuthu.
“My main aim will be to finish as high as possible,” said the pro who is making a comeback to the paid ranks after spending a few years away from the game.
“I am happy with how I played today and I have done the same in other recent tournaments, but I need to be more consistent,” he added.
“So far as the course is concerned, it is in good condition,” said the veteran player.
Top amateur player Low Khai Jei, Kemarol Baharin, Rashid Ismail, Nicholas Fung, Shaaban Hussin and Lim Eng Seng were on two-under 69 and joint sixth, while Nicholas Pua, Ahmad Farhan Syarif, Muhammad Wafiyuddin, Mohd Amli, Iylia Jamil, Hans Jamil, Jonathan Wong, P. Paramaswaran and Irfan Yusoff were tied for 12th place, another stroke back.
Leading First Round Scores
65 -6 Sukree Othman
66 -5 Kenneth De Silva, Abel Tam
68 -3 Kalana Ibrahim, R.Nachimuthu
69 -2 Low Khai Jei (A), Kemarol Baharin, Rashid Ismail, Nicholas Fung, Shaaban Hussin, Lim Eng Seng
70 -1 Nicholas Pua, Ahmad Farhan Syarif, Muhammad Wafiyuddin, Mohd Amli, Iylia Jamil, Hans Jamil, Jonathan Wong, P. Paramaswaran, Irwan Yusoff