European Tour champion Nathan Holman shot to the top of the Maybank Championship Malaysia leaderboard after a flawless round of 64, but the Australian has in-form Englishman Danny Willett breathing down his neck in Kuala Lumpur.
Holman had played just 15 European Tour events coming into the new season, but claimed a maiden win in his homeland at the Australian PGA Championship in December.
The 24 year old took last week off but showed no signs of rust at Royal Selangor Golf Club, racing to seven under par to sit on top a congested leaderboard, one shot ahead of Angelo Que, Tommy Fleetwood, Peter Uihlein, Alex Levy, Jorge Campillo and that man Willett.
Willett climbed to third in The Race to Dubai and 13th in the Official World Golf Ranking following his victory in Dubai a fortnight ago, and he promptly picked up where he left off with a superb 65 which was rounded off with a long putt at the last – one of five birdies for the Ryder Cup hopeful.
The highlight of his round came at the 13th hole, where he made eagle, and after making three more gains in his final five holes Willett had well and truly atoned for a sticky start which saw him play his first seven holes in one over par.
Former Malaysian Open champions Thongchai Jaidee and Louis Oosthuizen also got off to strong starts with respective rounds of 66 and 67.
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Key quotes
Nathan Holman: “There are a lot of birdie chances out there, but if you find the rough it can really grab you, I’m really happy with seven under par.
“I just played really well to be honest. Every part of my game was good and I was saying a few weeks ago that my game has been trending in the right direction, so it was nice to get a really low one in.
“The course suits my eye. I like the look of it, and that’s obviously shown in the score I had today so I’m looking forward to playing the next three days.”
Danny Willett: “It was a bit of a mixed bag today if I’m being honest with you. I hit it very nicely on the front nine but made nothing. Then on the back nine it was a bit scrappy at times, but I seemed to hole everything in sight. So it was one of those days where you put two very different nines together, but still walk away with a good score.
“It was a very long flight here and my body only started feeling right yesterday. I was coming down with a bit of cold and flu, but I feel fine now. One thing I tried to do was to keep expectations as low as possible. It is always easy to come to a tournament after you’ve won and put pressure on yourself to go out and do it again. I’ve done that before and it kind of kills you. So I came here, tried to do the same things, kept working hard and tried to hit the same shots. And it seemed to work for me today.”
Round One Scores
64 N Holman (Aus)
65 A Levy (Fra) , D Willett (Eng) , P Uihlein (USA) , T Fleetwood (Eng) , J Campillo (Esp) , A Que (Phi) ,
66 T Jaidee (Tha) , R Bland (Eng) , P Meesawat (Tha) , S Lee (Kor) , M Fraser (Aus) , K Kim (Kor) , M Kawamura (Jpn) , M Tabuena (Phi) ,
67 L Oosthuizen (RSA) , T Chuayprakong (Tha) , G Bhullar (Ind) , S Hussin (Mas) ,
68 R Rock (Eng) , R Gangjee (Ind) , R Wattel (Fra) , K De Silva (Mas) , T Lawrence (RSA) , C Nirat (Tha) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Morrison (Eng) , C Hsieh (Tpe) , S Gallacher (Sco) , D Lipsky (USA) ,
69 C Wood (Eng) , K Deng Shan (Sin) , M Korhonen (Fin) , A Wall (Eng) , E De La Riva (Esp) , T Wiratchant (Tha) , N Srithong (Tha) , K Broberg (Swe) , C Plaphol (Tha) , S Rahman (Ban) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , A Kang (USA) , G Storm (Eng) , A Dodt (Aus) , J Pagunsan (Phi) , K Low (Mas) , K Richardson (Aus) ,
70 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) , N Fung (Mas) , M Manassero (Ita) , M Tran (Vie) , L Wei-Chih (Tpe) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , G Havret (Fra) , W Ashun (Chn) , R Karlberg (Swe) , C Pigem (Esp) , L Bjerregaard (Den) , W Choo (Mas) , M Mamat (Sin) , T Khrongpha (Tha) , J Quesne (Fra) , E Pepperell (Eng) , K Horne (RSA) , C Phadungsil (Tha) , J Cheng (Chn) ,
71 A Quiros (Esp) , T Pieters (Bel) , S Yates (Sco) , B Hebert (Fra) , Y Song (Kor) , A Lascuna (Phi) , M Kaymer (Ger) , C O’Toole (USA) , A Johnston (Eng) , R Lee (Can) , M Ilonen (Fin) , L Chieh-Po (Tpe) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , S Brazel (Aus) , D Drysdale (Sco) , T Hatton (Eng) , P Marksaeng (Tha) , A Groom (Aus) ,
72 P Peterson (USA) , L Weber (Fra) , G Stal (Fra) , G Bourdy (Fra) , M Madsen (Den) , H Chien-Yao (Tpe) , A Cañizares (Esp) , K Aphibarnrat (Tha) , D Clarke (Nir) , A Zahari (Mas) , E España (Fra) , P McGinley (Irl) , J Luiten (Ned) , J Knutzon (USA) , G Gandranata (Ina) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , R Jacquelin (Fra) ,
73 S Chawrasia (Ind) , F Zanotti (Par) , M Warren (Sco) , K Baharin (Mas) , P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) , B Munson (USA) , U Park (Aus) , G Green (Mas) , F Aguilar (Chi) , T Pilkadaris (Aus) , S Norris (RSA) , D Howell (Eng) , A Da Silva (Bra) , S Benson (Eng) , M Jamil (Mas) , J Janewattananond (Tha) , J Winther (Den) , B Leong (Mas) , S Hend (Aus) , R Khan (Ind) ,
74 P Edberg (Swe) , M Siem (Ger) , J Wang (Kor) , B Henson (USA) , W Ormsby (Aus) , S Barr (Aus) , O Wilson (Eng) , J Kruger (RSA) , R Nachimuthu (Mas) , J Lagergren (Swe) , N Turner (Irl) , S Lewton (Eng) , C Kumar (Ind) ,
75 P Pittayarat (Tha) , H Rai (Ind) , J Jeong (Kor) , D Boonma (Tha) , M Jiménez (Esp) , S Othman (Mas) , T Olesen (Den) , K Kheng Hwai (Mas) , E Chang (am) (Mas) ,
76 J Singh (Ind) , Z Latt (Mya) , M Carlsson (Swe) , A Atwal (Ind) , D Chia (Mas) ,
77 M Perera (Sri) , M Hoey (Nir) , A Irawan (Mas) ,
78 J Colomo (Esp) , N Colsaerts (Bel) ,
79 L Wen-Tang (Tpe) ,
81 S Kapur (Ind) ,
** D Horsey (Eng)
