Murakami trails by 2

Artemio Murakami bogeyed the par-3 16th and fell two strokes off Welshman Craig Smith as the Filipino defending champion settled for a 67 at the start of the Iskandar Johor Open in Johor Bahru, Malaysia yesterday.

Still, it was a superb round for the 25-year-old Murakami, who mastered the Royal Johor Country Club with six birdies in the first 15 holes before dropping a shot on the 16th for a 33-34 round for joint second with Australians Michael Brown, Mahal Pearce and Rick Kulacz of Australia.

Tony Lascuna, who with Scot Simon Yates lost the title to Murakami by one stroke last year, also dished out a fine round of three-under 68 for joint eight with five others, including Thai top gun Thaworn Wiratchant and Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, a former Ryder Cup player.

Mars Pucay made a hot start of four birdies after 11 holes but bogeyed Nos. 12, 13 and 17 before dropping two shots on the 18th to fall just above the projected cut of 73.

The 6-8 Smith, however, towered over everybody else as he shot a bogey-free round of 33-32 for a two-shot lead over Murakami and three others in the $500,000 championship.