The first round leaders were defending champion Justin Thomas, Derek Fathauer and Keegan Bradley in the Dollars 7 million tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour and Asian Tour, the only PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament in Southeast Asia.
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Tabuena, the country’s number one golfer, earned a spot in the prestigious event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the US PGA Tour by placing fifth in the Asian Tour Order of Merit where the top 10 got automatic invitations. I have to just try and sustain that over the next 54 holes to give myself a good shot on Sunday. “Hopefully I can just keep the intensity through the weekend”.
Justin Thomas picked up his first-career win at this event a year ago when he fired a course-record 11-under in the second round and held on for a one-stroke victory in the end.
“I really try not to think a lot about the fact that I won past year”, he said. “I didn’t feel like I played very well out there today”. “I drove it better, which was good, but I definitely had a couple iron shots and a couple wedges that I felt like I should have hit closer, but bogey-free is always good”, Thomas told reporters. 3-6 in 4-under after an eagle-3 at 5 along with birdies at 3 and 6. Too many times I have gotten to February and I’m way too far behind in the Fed-Ex Cup list.
The PGA TOUR’s new season is officially underway with the conclusion of the first event; the Safeway Open.
The defending champion built on his opening round of 64 to card a six under 66, which moves him to 14 under par at TPC Kuala Lumpur.
If photos like that aren’t motivation enough to stay in the fairways and hit the greens – where you can actually see and make a conscious decision to stay away from a python – then I don’t know what is.
Knox jumped into contention with a nine-birdie 63, the lowest score of the week, while Hahn and Matsuyama signed for 64s.
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Scott Hend also shot 69 to be 1-under and T54, Marcus Fraser (69) is at even par and John Senden (70) is 1-over par at the halfway mark.
