Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and Gaganjeet Bhullar of India finished with a flourish as the SMBC Singapore Open first round was rounded off on Friday morning with six players tied for the lead.
Kodaira, a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour Organisation including two successes last year, birdied the 17th and 18th to card a 66 while Bhullar also picked up a shot at the last hole.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, a course specialist after runner-up and third place finishes in the Singapore Open, and Thailand’s Tirawat Kaewsiribandit both parred in to join the duo and overnight leaders Sergio Garcia of Spain, the Masters champion, and in-form American Kurt Kitayama on top of the leaderboard at Sentosa Golf Club.
They are two strokes clear of seven players – Australians Cameron Davis and Lucas Herbert, Japanese Koumei Oda and Yoshinori Fujimoto, Richard T. Lee of Canada, Casey O’Toole of the United States and India’s Jyoti Randhawa – in tied seventh spot.
The first round was halted due to a threat of lightning just after 5pm on Thursday with 78 players still to finish their rounds.
The second round is already underway with a revised draw.
