Miguel Angel Jiménez’s charge to the top of the leaderboard on the first day of the Maybank Malaysian Open was cut short by the evening gloom above Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club – but it would have taken more than that to darken the mood of the colourful Spaniard after he had played the first 17 holes in eight under par.
Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant holds the clubhouse lead after a seven under par 65, but Jiménez will be on the 18th tee at 7.45am on Friday looking to seal his place at the top of the leaderboard.
“I would have preferred to have finished this afternoon and have half an hour extra in bed in the morning - that is the best half an hour always!” the Ryder Cup player said with a broad smile.
“Apart from that it is fine. I played very well, very solid tee to green and was quite good on the greens also. I got going okay after the break earlier so I am sure I will be okay in the morning.”
The break to which he referred was the two hours 45 minutes that were lost to a violent thunder storm during the afternoon. Play was only resumed at 5.35pm and 63 groups were still to finish when dwindling light forced play to be suspended again.
Earlier in the day, it was Wiratchant who had set the pace. The 2005 Asian Tour Number One had announced prior to his opening round that he expected the winning total on Sunday would be around 18 under par. Come lunchtime on Thursday and the Thai golfer had made his own prediction look a little on the cautious side after a seven under par 65 that was only blotted by a bogey at the ninth, his final hole.
A stroke further back after 66s are England’s Richard Finch, Welshman Garry Houston, Francesco Molinari of Italy and Ireland’s Gary Murphy, while the group on five under comprised Stephen Dodd of Wales, Australian Gary Simpson and Swedish Challenge Tour graduate Fredrik Widmark. Another Australian, Adam Le Vesconte, is also on five under but has six holes left to play.
Wiratchant was among the early starters at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club and his group, which comprised Irish favourite Padraig Harrington and the talented Indian Jyoti Randhawa, made the most of the overcast conditions - and the preferred lies - with the trio a combined 14 under par.
Harrington posted a bogey-free 69 in his first round since early December, while Randhawa went one better with a 68 that contained two bogeys. The star turn, however, was Wiratchant, who was straight into his stride with birdies at his first two holes. He then holed from 20 foot at the 17th, his eighth, and from eight foot at the 18th to reach the turn four under.
Four more birdies followed before a rare misjudgement at the last, when he overshot the green with his approach and then fluffed his chip back, saw him register his only bogey. Still, it could not ruin what had been a good morning’s work.
“I am very happy. This is my best round this year. Every time I get into a competition, I am confident,” said Wiratchant, who is looking ahead to the prospect of his first full season on The European Tour after winning last year’s Enjoy Jakarta Standard Indonesia Open.
The Thai is bidding to become the fifth Asian winner since the Malaysian Open joined The European Tour International Schedule in 1999, but he will be acutely aware of the European challenge that is being led in spectacular fashion by Jiménez.
The man from Malaga started with two birdies and an eagle in the opening three holes and went on to pick up a further four shots after the turn. In fact, he came millimetres from a second eagle at the 14th when his second shot damaged the side of the hole and spun past. It was tough on Jiménez, but there was no tale of bad luck for young Englishman Ross Fisher when he holed his pitching wedge tee shot at the par three fourth hole.
