Mardan Mamat leads the King’s Cup after day one
Mardan Mamat of Singapore fired a sparkling nine-under par 63 in the opening round of the King’s Cup, to take a one-stroke lead, on Thursday, November 29, 2012.
The Asian Tour event is being played at the Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club, offering a total prize fund of US$ $500,000 to the participants.
Mamat, who won the ICTSI Philippine Open earlier this season, came flying out of the blocks with birdies on the third, fifth, sixth and the seventh hole.
After recording pars on each of the eighth and the ninth hole, the 45-year-old reached the turn in four-under.
Following another two par putts that he made on the first two holes on the back nine, he birdied six of his last seven holes to finish the day on a high note.
At the end of the first round, he found himself settled one-stroke better than Supakorn Utaipat of Thailand and England’s Chris Rodgers.
Talking to the Asian Tour’s official website, he stated that his control over his putter was the main reason behind his success in the first round.
He also expressed his pleasure in posting such an impressive score at one of the difficult golf courses in the region.
“It has been some time since I shot nine-under and obviously it’s a very good score that I can be very proud of,” said Mardan.
“I holed many putts and that was basically the key to such a good round today. What made me happier is that I haven’t been putting well for some time and today’s putting was really the best I’ve putted all year,” added the three-time Asian Tour winner.
Utaipat, in the meantime, was relishing the opportunity to contend for the top spot, entering the second round.
The Thai youngster is currently playing his rookie season as a professional. Earlier this year, he participated in the Queen’s Cup and missed the cut by six strokes.
This week, he plans to erase his unpleasant memories by recoding a strong finish in Thailand. He told that he was using a completely different set of clubs, as compared to the ones that he used in the Queen’s Cup.
“I changed my entire bag starting with the driver, putter and irons. This is a new set of golf clubs that I’ve and I’m happy with where it has got me today,” said Supakorn.
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