Korean teenager Noh Seung-yul enjoyed a stellar start to the Maybank Malaysian Open, carding a 10-under-par 62 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round.
The 17-year-old fired an eagle and nine birdies against a lone bogey at Saujana Golf & Country Club's Palm Course to edge ahead of playing partner Alexander Noren of Sweden in the US$2million event, which is co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.
Former Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Liang Wen-chong of China and France's Jean-Francois Lucquin were tied for third after shooting seven-under 65s while Nick Dougherty finished strongly to join Australia's Adam Blyth and local favourite Danny China in fifth, a further shot back.
Japanese ace Shingo Katayama and two-time Malaysian Open winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand are in contention on three under but world number 11 Anthony Kim has much work to do if he hopes to survive the cut after struggling to a six-over 78.
Noh, last year's Asian Tour Rookie of the Year, began his round on the back nine with a poor tee shot at the 10th but recovered to sink his first birdie of the day from 45 feet.
Playing partner Noren set the pace for much of the morning after opening with four consecutive birdies and going out in six under.
But Noh kept in touch with the Swede and overhauled him with an eagle at the par-five seventh and his ninth birdie of the day on the eighth.
The lone blemish on the Korean's round was a bogey on the par-three fifth but the youngster had much to smile about after his magnificent opening effort.
"I didn't make any mistakes today and I putted really well to post a good score," said Noh, who won the Midea China Classic and had three runner-up finishes on his debut season on the Asian Tour.
"I'm happy but you don't win a tournament on the first day.
"The eagle on seven was pretty special but with a 10 under today, every moment was a highlight."
Noren had nine birdies in his bogey-free 63 and Noh admitted the Swede's good play was a motivating factor for himself.
"He played well at the start of the round," said Noh, an admirer of KJ Choi and Australian ace Adam Scott.
"I wasn't thinking of beating him but I just tied to catch him during the round. He pushed me along."
Noren, who has yet to win on the European Tour, was impressed by the teenager.
"He is unbelievable," said the Swede. "Our first hole was the 10th and he hit his tee shot way right and I thought to myself he might be a little bit nervous.
"Next thing I know he knocks it on the green and makes the putt for birdie. Obviously he wasn't too nervous.
"He was just unbelievable. I seemed to be one ahead of him all day but then he birdied four, eagled seven and birdied eight to get one ahead of me."
Having fired a nine-over 81 at Saujana two years ago, Noren was much happier with his opening effort this time around.
"I played here two years ago and found it very tough so either I'm getting better or the course is getting easier," he quipped.
"I had bad memories of this place but I love it now."
Dougherty was one of the few players teeing off in the afternoon to make an impression on the top of the leaderboard after a strong finish to his round.
"It was good and I played really well," said the Englishman. "To finish birdie-par-birdie-eagle always helps as well.
"I hit two great shots into the last and nearly holed my second as well so it was a very pleasing finish.
"I played better than I was scoring on the front nine but it paid me back over the last few holes."
Kim will be looking for a marked improvement in his putting after a poor opening round.
"It was a very bad day at the office," said the American. "My ball striking was as good as it has been for the last couple of months but obviously I putted like I couldn't see, which was unfortunate.
"But we'll get them tomorrow. I haven't hit my driver that well in a long, long time and I am confident that I can go out there tomorrow and shoot quite a few under par if I can get a few putts to fall."
Collated first round scores in the European Tour Maybank Malaysian Open, Saujana G & CC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
62 Seung-yul Noh (Kor)
63 Alexander Noren (Swe)
65 Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
66 Nick Dougherty, Danny Chia (Mal), Adam Blyth (Aus)
67 Juvic Pagunsan (Phi), Airil Rizman (Mal), Rhys Davies
68 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Mitchell Brown (Aus), Andrew Coltart, Klas Eriksson (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Ross Bain
69 Gareth Maybin, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Chawalit Plaphol (Tha), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Johan Edfors (Swe), Oliver Fisher, Marciano Pucay (Phi), Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Kodai Ichihara (Jpn), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Phillip Archer, Mark Foster, Shingo Katayama (Jpn)
70 Bryan Saltus (USA), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Simon Griffiths, David Frost (Rsa), Prom Meesawat (Tha), Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Marcel Siem (Ger), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Simon Khan, Jason Knutzon (USA), Tony Carolan (Aus), Marcus Both (Aus), Richard Finch, James Kamte (Rsa), Ross McGowan
71 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Shaaban Hussin (Mal), Unho Park (Aus), Peter Hedblom (Swe), Simon Dyson, Simon Wakefield, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Scott Barr (Aus), Alastair Forsyth, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Miles Tunnicliff, Joong Kyung Mo (Kor), Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe), Anton Haig (Rsa), Darren Beck (Aus), David Horsey, Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
72 Wei Chih Lu (Tha), Frankie Minoza (Phi), Robert Dinwiddie, Sung Lee (Kor), Peter Lawrie, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor), Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Digvijay Singh (Ind), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Eng seng Lim (Mal), Richard Bland, David Gleeson (Aus), Supramaniam Sivachandran (Mal), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Paul Broadhurst, Keith Horne (Rsa), David Bransdon (Aus), Gavin Flint (Aus)
73 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Damien McGrane, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Phillip Price, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Steven O'Hara, Kane Webber (USA), Robert Rock, Scott Hend (Aus), Nicholas Fung (Mal), Taco Remkes (Ned), Wade Ormsby (Aus), Angelo Que (Phi), Guido Van Der Valk (Ned)
74 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), David Howell, Ben Leong (Mal), Chris Rodgers, Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Graeme Storm, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Seve Benson, Anthony Kang (USA), Wil Besseling (Ned), Periasamy Gunasagaran (Mal), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Ted Oh (Kor), Sam Little, Akhmal Tarmizee (Mal)
75 Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Neven Basic (Aus), Wen-Tang Lin (Tai), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn), John Bickerton, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Rashid Ismail (Mal), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Pablo Martin (Spa)
76 S Murthy (Mal), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Anis Helmi (Mal), Clay Devers (USA), Gary Lockerbie, Marc Warren, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Iain Steel (Mal), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Mark Brown (Nzl)
77 Gary Murphy, Antonio Lascuna (Phi), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Dinesh Chand (Fij), R Nachimuthu (Mal)
78 Chien Tan hau (Mal), Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn), Anthony Kim (USA), Benn Barham, Somkiat Sri-sanga (Tha), Rory Hie (Ina)
79 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Richie Ramsay, Scott Strange (Aus)
80 Teck choo Ng (Mal)
81 P Paramaswaran (Mal)
82 Amandeep Johl (Ind)
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