Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia: Airil Rizman opened with a five-under-par 67 without playing a practice round to share the lead with Paul Donahoo of Australia at the PGM MNRB Sarawak Championship on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Airil produced six birdies against one bogey including a par save on the last hole when he brilliantly made up-and-down from the greenside bunker to share the lead at the Kelab Golf Sarawak.<\/p>\n
Malaysia’s Wilson Choo and Atthaphon Sriboonkaew of Thailand were a further shot back in third place on equal 68s at the RM200,000 (approximately US$55,400) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.<\/p>\n
“I’m a lot more consistent but I don’t seem to be producing the results this year. I made more cuts up to this point compared to last year. My scores are definitely more consistent but I haven’t had any super low rounds to help me contend for the title,” said Airil.<\/p>\n
Airil, who won on the Asian Tour in 2007, believes that his low round today is a sign of better things to come. “I enjoyed a good season last year and that only started in June! I’m happy with my progress so far and I guess I have one more month to hit that form again. ” he laughed.<\/p>\n
Playing in his third ADT event this year, Donahoo credited his tee shots for his solid start where he posted six birdies.<\/p>\n
“I like the course. It suits my eye. I’ve played quite good this year. I only need to put four good rounds together. I’ve been staying patient and I’m just going through the processes to see where it leads me,” said the 34-year-old Australian.<\/p>\n
Since it was inaugurated as a gateway to the Asian Tour in 2010, the ADT has grown from five events in the first year to a record 21 tournaments in both 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n
The ADT will continue to reward the top-five finishers on the Order of Merit at the end of this season with Asian Tour cards for 2016.<\/p>\n
With the Olympic Games looming in 2016 where golf will be reintroduced as a medal sport, players in the region could earn their spots in Rio de Janeiro by earning Official World Golf Ranking points through the Asian Tour and ADT.<\/p>\n
For more information on the ADT, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com.<\/p>\n
Leading first round scores:<\/strong><\/p>\n 67 – Paul DONAHOO (AUS), Airil Rizman ZAHARI (MAS)<\/p>\n 68 – Atthaphon SRIBOONKAEW (THA), Wilson CHOO (MAS)<\/p>\n 69 – Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE , R. Nachimuthu (MAS), Mohd Amli MOHIYADEEN (MAS), Zurie HARUN (MAS), LOW Khai Jei (A) (MAS), Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA), M. Sasidaran (MAS), Erwan VIEILLEDENT (FRA)<\/p>\n 70 – Nils FLOREN (SWE), Casey O’TOOLE (USA), Masaru TAKAHASHI (JPN), Wisut ARTJANAWAT (THA), Rizal AMIN (MAS), Michael MOORE (AUS), Nirun SAE-UENG (THA), Jake STIRLING (AUS), Annop TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA), Clarke LUTTON (SCO), Konstantin LIU (HKG).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia: Airil Rizman opened with a five-under-par 67 without playing a practice round to share the lead with Paul Donahoo of Australia at the PGM MNRB Sarawak Championship on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Airil produced six birdies against one bogey including a par save on the last hole when he brilliantly made up-and-down from the greenside bunker to share the lead at the Kelab Golf Sarawak.<\/p>\n Malaysia’s Wilson Choo and Atthaphon Sriboonkaew of Thailand were a further shot back in third place on equal 68s at the RM200,000 (approximately US$55,400) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-golf-news"],"yoast_head":"\n