KUALA LUMPUR: American Bronson Burgoon tore the Tournament Players Club (TPC) course apart with a nine-under 63 opening round today to lead the CIMB Classic by two strokes.
Second is Austin Cook of the United States on eight-under 64.
And hot on his heels are countrymen Scott Percy and Billy Horschel as well as Taiwan's Pan Cheng-tsung who posted a seven-under 65s.
The fact that it was Burgoon's first time in the tournament, did not make a difference to him as he played an almost flawless round.
But for the leader, it was “boring golf” as the only excitement was an eagle out of a bunker on the ninth hole.
"I drove it well and I putted pretty good, so it was kind of, I mean, it was boring golf, but that's always a good thing.
"I chipped in for eagle out of the bunker on my ninth hole, which kind of boosted me, then I kept going.
"I was thankful I was able to
play the Pro-Am (Wednesday) and I felt kind of going a little bit. I was feeling pretty good before I teed off," said Burgoon.
The rain came but the pros at the TPC could still master the course with ease. Horschel expects the coming rounds to be a “birdie fest”.
"It's was a great day of golf, no bogeys, seven birdies. So obviously if you look back at the history of this tournament, you know it's low scores, you've got to go low.
"I was pretty shocked to see how low they were, especially with the new greens being so firm.
“But I would expect the course to play a little bit tougher as the week goes along. I guess it's going to be a birdie fest again this year," said Horschel.
However, defending champion Pat Perez of the United States found the course tough as he managed only a two-under par 70 to be joint-35.