Published July 17, 2008 on October 10, 2018

Shahriffuddin Grabs Opening Clubhouse Lead at the PGM CCM Championship

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Local talent Shahriffuddin Ariffin got his campaign off to a flying start when he fired a five-under-par 67 to seize the opening clubhouse lead at the weather-hit PGM CCM Championship on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Malaysian, who claimed his maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) victory on home soil two months ago, traded eight birdies against three bogeys to grab a one-shot edge at the RM225,000 (approx. US$58,000) event.

Play was suspended at 12.42pm local time due to lightning threats before being abandoned for the day four hours later.

A total of 56 players will return to the Kota Seriemas Golf and Country Club to resume their opening rounds at 7.30am on Thursday morning with the second round scheduled to start at 11:55 am.

Erwan Vieilledent of France and American Han Lee recorded matching 68s to share second place while American Sam Gillis and South Africa’s Mathiam Keyser trailed by two shots in fourth following identical rounds of 69.

Starting from the 10th tee, Shahriffuddin carded two birdies against two bogeys for an outward 36. He birdied the first hole after making the turn but gave it away with a bogey on the next.

The young Malaysian, however, kept up his charge as he fired five birdies in his closing seven holes to take his place atop the leaderboard.

“I putted very well today and made a lot of key saves. My caddy Shahrul and I worked very well together and he helped me a lot with the line readings today which helped,” said Shahriffuddin.

“I am feeling very confident in my game right now and I just want to keep this momentum going,” he added.

Frenchman Vieilledent overcame his injury woes and took advantage of his accuracy off the tees for his commendable round of 68, where he missed only two fairways.

“I injured my wrist during the Taifong Open in August and found out it was Tendon Inflammation. I’m still playing through the pain since it’s not entirely healed yet so I have to be very careful when I am hitting from the rough.

“I had a really good start to the round and was accurate off the tee. That was key for me today, I was three-under after five holes and was on a roll, then I had my first bogey on hole seven when I hit my tee shot into the water on the left and had to lay up to 20 yards. But I stayed patient and made two more birdies on holes 14 and 15,” said the 27-year-old.

Lee, a former regular on the Asian Tour, rode on a hot putter to mark his card with five birdies against one bogey.

“Honestly this is a pretty tough golf course with challenging greens that are pretty hard to read. I’ll be relying on my Malaysian caddy a lot this week on reading some of the lines.

“I didn’t strike it that great but I had a lot of lucky misses. I putted well and only had one three-putt on the 18th hole,” said the 41-year-old Lee, who is currently ranked eighth on the ADT Order of Merit.

The leading seven players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the Asian Tour for the 2019 season.

All ADT events are afforded with Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points with the winner earning a minimum of six OWGR points while the top-six players and ties earn points on a sliding scale.

Leading first round scores:

67 – Shahriffuddin ARIFFIN (MAS)

68 – Erwan VIEILLEDENT (FRA), Han LEE (USA)

69 – Sam GILLIS (USA), Mathiam KEYSER (RSA)

71 – Poom PATTAROPONG (THA), Shinichi MIZUNO (JPN)

72 – Jesse SCHUTTE (USA), Tarik CAN (USA), KHOR Kheng Hwai (MAS), Hyukchul SHIN (KOR)

73 – Zurie HARUN (MAS)