Juvic Pagunsan took the first-round lead in the Mercedes-Benz Masters Indonesia on Wednesday to make the perfect start in his bid to finish the year ranked No. 1.
The Filipino carded an eight-under-par 64 at Emeralda Golf and Country Club to take the lead ahead of Thailand’s Borwon Chaisri, who shot 66.
The $80,000 tournament is the last of the season on the Mercedes-Benz Tour, and Pagunsan heads the Order of Merit with earnings of $22,450.
Pagunsan claimed the Mercedes-Benz Masters Thailand in June by seven strokes and carded a flawless round on Wednesday, making eight birdies.
He played the front nine in five under helped by three birdies in a row from the second.
He also made three on the trot from the 14th.
“That was one of my best rounds of the year. I did not put a foot wrong,” Pagunsan said.
Indonesian No. 1 Rory Hie, whose sole victory since turning professional came in the 2008 International Championship on the Mercedes-Benz Tour, shot an even-par 72.
Rory made an eagle in the par-5 seventh hole and a birdie in the 17th, but hit bogeys in the first, fifth and 15th holes to finish the day tied at 18th with seven others.
Burhan Bora and Johannes Dermawan had the next best score in the Indonesian field coming in at joint 26th with a 73.
In a rare treat for the crowd, two players recorded aces. Thai Atthaphon Prathummanee had a hole in one on the 16th while his countryman Philip Matsson, an amateur, aced the fourth.
Thailand’s Pinsawat Pariwat, the youngest of all amateurs at the age of just 13, fired a very respectable 73.
Leading first round scores (par 72):
64 - Juvic Pagunsan (PHI)
66 - Borwon Chaisri (THA)
68 - Namchok Tantipokhakul (THA), Antonio Lascuna (PHI). Wittawat Sae-ung (THA), Artemio Murakami (PHI)
69 - Nicholas Fung (MAS), Wisut Artjanawat (THA), Panuwat Muenlek (THA), Mohd Sukree Othman (MAS), Ferdie Aunzo (PHI), Pawin Ingkhapradit (Am) (THA), Atthaphon Prathummanee (THA)
Agence France-Presse
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com