Graeme McDowell starts slowly at the Asian Tour’s International Series in Singapore with a two-over-par round of 74, ten shots back from tournament leader David Puig.
Puig finished his opening round with a round-best round of 64, leaving him three shots clear of the Asian trio of Chang Wei-lun, Rattanon Wannasrichan and Itthipat Buranatanyarat in second.
With McDowell turning his attention to his work on the Asian Tour after what could be described as a lacklustre showing on the LIV Tour this season, McDowell’s fortunes have not changed and was epitomised by his form on the front nine this afternoon.
McDowell recorded back-to-back pars in his opening two holes but followed this up with a triplet of bogeys which left him three-over-par through five holes.
A birdie on the 429-yard seventh helped the Portrush native rectify some of the damage done in the opening third of his round and entered his back nine on +2.
The major winner started his final nine holes in the best possible way as he made up another shot but would give this back on the par-four 12th.
McDowell looked set to finish on one-over-par after a birdie on the lengthy par-four 15th, but a bogey on the final hole left a sour taste in his mouth as he completed his round with a score of +2 and a lot of work to do to make the cut for the weekend’s action.
At the business end of the leaderboard, David Puig played a fantastic round of golf, recording a score of -8 after the opening day’s play.
The 21-year-old’s blemish-free round began with a steady score of level par through his first four holes before beginning to make his way up the leaderboard.
A birdie on the fifth was followed up back a pair of red scores on the final holes of his front nine, giving him a score of -3. More consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th brought the Spaniard to five-under-par as his sizzling form continued.
The LIV Golf star finished his round with a birdie on the 15th and back-to-back birdies to finish with a score of 64 and a comfortable lead at the tournament’s summit.
Speaking after his strong showing at the Tanah Merah Country Club’s Tampines course, Puig spoke about his play in his first event on the tour this season, as well as the Torque GC golfer’s form on the LIV tour.
“I have been hitting it pretty good off the tee this year and this is a long course and there are some holes where you need to be accurate and precise but there are others where they kind of open and with my distance I have a little bit of an advantage to that.
“I know I am a good player and that’s why I am here and why I play on LIV, I know that, and also the scores tell that. I practice hard and I think I am doing all the things right, with my team as well.”
McDowell gets his second round underway tomorrow at 7:50 a.m. (12:50 a.m. Irish time.)
Leave a comment