Green stay close behind leader at WGC-HSBC Champions
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Gavin Kyle Green and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat f ired matching seven-under-par 65s to stay one shot back of American Brooks Koepka who leads with his 64 after the first round of the WGCHSBC Champions on Thursday.
The Asian duo had earlier shared the clubhouse lead until Koepka stormed home with two birdies in his closing three holes to take the opening day honours at the Sheshan International Golf Club, in Shanghai, China.
Like his first round efforts in South Korea last week, Green, who is making his debut in the tournament, found himself in another similar position on the leaderboard again.
While he fell out of contention after that, the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader is hopeful of doing better this week.
“It’s my first time here and my first WGC event. I’m enjoying the opportunity and just trying to play some good golf. I got out today and just got going and enjoying my golf. When I was out of position, I put it back in play and wedged it close and made a putt. I made a couple of good putts today, which obviously helped.
“I hope to keep that going. Obviously looking back at the last two weeks, I felt like I’ve been trying to maybe step on it a little bit more than I should... and obviously it did not come out the way I wanted to. So I’m taking a different approach this time. I’m just going to enjoy my first WGC event with dad’s on the bag and sticking to the game plan,” said Green as quoted in Asian Tour official website. — Bernama