Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng sizzled with a nine-under par 63, spiked by an eight-birdie string from No. 5, as he ripped the par 72 Kota Permai Golf and Country Club course to seize a three-stroke lead over Chinese Zhang Lian-wei, who had a 66.
Four players, including Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Singh of India, shot 67s while three others carded four-under par cards to underscore the field’s torrid start in the $275,000 event serving as the 10th leg of the Asian PGA Tour.
Carito Villaroman and Mars Pucay both had 70s for a share of 28th place while Cassius Casas dropped two strokes on the first three holes and hardly recovered from that slow start as the fancied Filipino shotmaker finished with a two-over par 74 for 89th place and in danger of missing the cut.
Gerald Rosales, who like Casas is handled by the global marketing company img (International Management Group), matched par 72, blowing away a two-under par card with back-to-back bogeys from No. 13 and settling for joint 55th place.
Unlike Rosales and Casas, the dusky Zarate, winner of one leg of the Philippine golf tour and runner up to Casas in the RP Open, flashed some kind of resiliency as overcame a double-bogey on No. 4 with birdies on Nos. 11, 13 and 17.
He hopes to sustain that solid 33 at the back in today’s second round in a bid to put himself in a good position heading into the weekend play of this event.
But the opposition looks formidable.