Bradley, Schauffele 1 back in Malaysia
Australian Smith takes first-day lead; Thomas trails by 6.
Justin Thomas collected the Jack Nicklaus Award as the U.S. PGA Tour player of the year a couple of days before heading to Malaysia in a bid to win his third successive CIMB Classic.
Little wonder then the twotime defending champion was slightly off his game in the first round Thursday, managing only a 2-under-par 70 to sit six strokes behind leader Cameron Smith of Australia in Kuala Lumpur.
Smith opened with a blemish-free 8-under 64 and leads a U.S. PGA Tour event after the first round for the first time in 64 starts.
Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffele and Poom Saksansin of Thailand were tied for second at 7 under. Brendan Steele, coming off a victory last week at the Safeway Open, had an opening 67.
Thomas has barely had time to catch his breath after winning the FedEx Cup and playing in the Presidents Cup. He won his first tour title here two years ago. He successfully defended it last year and has had a transformative 2017 in which he’s won five titles and his first major, the U.S. Open.
He’s aiming to be the first player to win the same tournament three years in a row since Steve Stricker at the John Deer Classic from 2009-11.
Schauffele, the U.S. tour rookie of the year, said he was taking plenty of notice of how Thomas approaches this course and is trying to keep it simple.
“I pretty much tried to copy everything that he did because I figured he’s a good guy to imitate out here,” Schauffele said.
Thomas mixed five birdies with three bogeys. Schauffele and Poom made seven birdies to go into early contention, while Bradley eagled the 12th hole to make amends for his sole bogey.
Smith’s round of eight birdies including five on the front nine. “The putting was easy actually,” Smith said.
He’s chasing his second title of the year after winning the Zurich Classic in April.
The American trio of Kevin Na, Gary Woodland, and Pat Perez were also in contention in the Asian Tour event after carding 66s.
LPGA: Sung Hyun Park birdied her last two holes for a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead in the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship in her home country as the South Korean bolstered her bid to win LPGA rookie of the year and player of the year.
Park was tied for the firstround lead with Min-Sun Kim and Minjee Lee in Incheon.
Cristie Kerr, coming off a victory last week in France, was among those at 67.
Park, who won the U.S. Women’s Open this year for her first major and is No. 2 in the world, was playing Thursday in the featured group at Sky 72 Golf & Resort comprising the top three players in the world ranking. The topranked So Yeon Ryu opened with a 72, while Lexi Thompson had a 69.
The 24-year-old Park won six times last year on the Korean LPGA. In her first season on the American tour, she already has won the U.S. Women’s Open and the Canadian Women’s Open. She leads the LPGA money list and is No. 3 on the points list of player of the year behind Ryu and Thompson.
Europe: Defending champion and home favorite Francesco Molinari was among six players who shared a onestroke lead after the opening round of the Italian Open.
Jamie Donaldson, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Eddie Pepperell, Matt Wallace and Alexander Bjork also shot 7-under 64s at the Golf Club Milano, next to Monza’s Formula One circuit.