Mardan Mamat and Lam Chih Bing of Singapore continued their formidable partnership by taking the opening round lead with a superb eight under par 63 in the fourball format at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup Asian Qualifying on Wednesday.
The Singaporean duo combined effectively to card eight birdies in a bogey-free round at Seri Selangor Golf Club to give themselves a strong chance of earning one of three tickets available to the Omega Mission Hills World Cup, held in China in November.
The newly-formed pairing of Iain Steel and Shaaban Hussin of Malaysia flourished with a solid 64 to lie in second place, whilst New Zealand’s Michael Hendry and Gareth Paddison, who notched two successive eagles from the fifth hole, are a further stroke behind in third.
The Myanmar team of Zaw Moe and Nay Bala battled to a 66 to trail Singapore by three shots.
Lam and Mardan, aiming to qualify for their fifth Omega Mission Hills World Cup appearance together, showed their fondness for the Seri Selangor course with six straight birdies from the eighth hole.
“We combined really well. Mardan was rock solid whereas I kind of struggled but I was happy I managed to contribute a few birdies out there,” said Lam, a winner on the Asian Tour.
Veteran Mardan was delighted with his team’s start, and praised Lam for his birdies on the ninth, 10th and 11th holes. Lam also saved par at the last hole to put Singapore on top of the leaderboard.
“The course isn’t playing easy. There are tricky pins on some of the holes and it is hard to read these greens. Both of us have been playing okay. When Lam was having a bad hole I came in to save the hole, and vice versa. Lam’s birdies before the turn were the turning point for us,” said Mardan, who had qualified with Lam at Seri Selangor in 2006 and 2009.
The home team got off to a strong start when Shaaban, making his debut in the Asian Qualifying, made an eagled from ten feet on the par five fifth hole in a round of six birdies and just one bogey, at the demanding final hole.
“I was feeling a bit nervous, but Iain gave me some tips on how to play in this type of format. He helped me a lot and he played very well,” said Shaaban, who finished tied 20th at the Indonesian Masters earlier this year.
Steel, who was born in Sabah but is now based in the United States, said the real test would be the second round’s foursomes format.
“Tomorrow is the crunch as we will find out how this partnership is really going. The competition will level out, and we will know where everybody stands. It will be a different ball game tomorrow, and we need to stay patient and keep the big numbers away,” said Steel, who is bidding for a first Omega Mission Hills World Cup appearance.
New Zealanders Hendry and Paddison eagled both the fifth and sixth holes to turn in 31, but rued missed chances on the homeward nine.
“Gareth played very well and I kind of hung in there. The front nine was probably the key for us. Neither of us played outstanding golf, but Gareth definitely played better than me. Overall we combined well, and that’s what you are supposed to do in this format,” said the 31 year old Hendry.
Veteran Moe was pleased with his combination with newcomer Nay Bala. “This is our first time teaming up. I wanted a young partner because he has more energy to play golf, so I will try to remain steady while he goes on the attack,” said Moe.
Bala, 21, is playing in his first Omega Mission Hills World Cup qualifer, but did not show any signs of nervousness, holing a 15 foot eagle putt on the fifth hole to get the team off to a good start.
First round scores (Fourball)
63 – Singapore (Lam Chih Bing, Mardan Mamat)
64 – Malaysia (Iain Steel, Shaaban Hussin)
65 – New Zealand (Michael Hendry, Gareth Paddison)
66 – Myanmar (Zaw Moe, Nay Bala Win Myint)
67 – India (Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar)
68 – Chinese Taipei (Tseng Hua-yen, Lin Kuan-po), Pakistan (Mohd Shabbir Iqbal, Muhammad Munir)
70 – Sri Lanka (Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera), Philippines (Mars Pucay, Antonio Lascuna), Korea (Kim Hyung-sung, Park Sung-joon)
73 – Hong Kong (Wong Woon Man, William Fung), Indonesia (Hardjito, Burhan Bora)
74 – Senegal (Niang Samba, Gueye Diadji)
76 – Vietnam (Nguyen Thai Duong, Michael Tran)
77 – Ghana (Stephen Kwame Klah, Godwin Sai)
78 – Brunei (Pengiran Hassanal, Moksin Jinaidi)
