Karlberg in Front at CIMB Classic


Thanks to birdies on his final two holes Rikard Karlberg fired a 7-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the CIMB Classic. The $7 million PGA Tour event got underway Thursday at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Malaysia.

The 27-year-old Swede carded five birdies on the front nine before closing with a flurry. He leads Americans Billy Hurley III and Brian Stuard, and Angelo Que of the Philippines, by two strokes

Karlberg, who splits time on the Asian and European tours, is making his third start on the American tour. He has missed the cut in two U.S. Opens. "I just went out there and tried to be as relaxed as possible and just have fun," he said.

Karlberg noted he had been occupied entering the tournament but was able to adjust his mindset. "It's been a busy schedule coming into this week, so there's been some pressure, and I just stopped almost enjoying the game.

"I was a little bit frustrated before the two last tournaments coming into this week. So coming into this week and I realized that before, that just enjoy it and have fun out there made a big difference for me. I have better body language, even if I miss a shot and so on. And so I haven't really thought about it as a big event. I just enjoy that we play on great golf course, and yeah, enjoy it."

Hurley had a spotless five-birdie scorecard, while Stuard's was a bit more colorful. The 31-year-old from Michigan had seven birdies and two bogeys. His bogeys on Nos. 11 and 18 were sandwiched around five birdies. "I haven't played very well to start with," said Stuard, who's searching for his first Tour title.

"I've played a couple good rounds and then I'll have a bad round here, so I'm excited to play well to start with and hopefully I can keep it going."

Trailing Karlberg by three are New Zealand's Tim Wilkinson, South Korean Seung-Yul Noh, Thailand's Prom Meesawat, Sweden's David Lingmerth and Americans Ryan Moore, Kevin Streelman, Davis Love III and Jeff Overton. Moore is the defending champion.

Beginning play on the 10th tee, Moore posted birdie on his front nine. After a birdie and two bogeys at the first five holes on his home half, the 31-year-old from Tacoma closed with four straight birdies for a 68. "It was a nice score. I had a great finish to get to that," he said.

"I birdied the last four holes of the day, so that obviously is a nice way to finish off. You know, early in the round it was a little up and down, and I made some great par-savers that kind of kept myself in it, and you know, but was really close all day to making a lot of birdies, so to finally kind of finish off and make some putts and hit some good shots and finished off with those birdies was great."

The 50-year-old Love was also pleased with his start considering he hadn't seen much of the course after arriving in the Far East. "I only got to play two holes, so I didn't see much of it, but yeah, except for a couple of holes I was a little tentative on some shots and not real sure what to do," said the 20-time Tour winner, who also dabbles on the over-50 Champions Tour. "I made some bad swings, but all in all you take 4 under if you haven't ever seen the course before, so I'm pretty happy with it."

Other scores included a 69 by the field's highest-ranking player, No. 4 Sergio Garcia, and a 72 by the Spaniard's 2014 European Ryder Cup teammate, Lee Westwood. "I felt like I played quite well," said Garcia.

"Obviously I didn't hole a lot of putts. I hit some really good putts that I had quite a lot of lip outs, but other than that, it felt good. I started well, obviously played a good front nine, and then back nine I felt like I played pretty solid, gave myself some chances, and unfortunately I just wasn't able to convert, you know, like two or three of the putts on the back nine. But other than that, it felt pretty good."

Reigning FedEx Cup champion, Billy Horschel, opened with a 72.

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