Shanghai, October 25: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat underlined his growing reputation as a world class player by posting a four-under-par 68 to take a share of fifth place after the first round of  the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions on Thursday.

Kiradech, together with C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei, are the highest placed Asians in the elite 78-man field and they will head into the second round of the US$10million WGC event four shots back of American Patrick Reed who leads with his 64 at the Sheshan International Golf Club.

Having already enjoyed two top-five finishes in his previous two WGC events in Mexico and the United States this year, Kiradech, who was hospitalised for two days after his exertions in Malaysia a fortnight ago, is back in the pink of health and looking forward  to get the job done this week.

The 2013 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion is ranked 41st in the world and is also the first Thai to earn a PGA TOUR card.

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar will meanwhile be looking for a strong comeback after struggling to a 72 which placed him in a share of 27th place at the year’s final WGC event.

Compatriot Shubhankar Sharma, who currently leads the Asian Tour’s Habitat for Humanity standings, had a day to forget as he carded a 80 to end the day in last place on the leaderboard.

Did you know?

• Kiradech Aphibarnrat is playing in his fourth WGC-HSBC Champions. His previous results include T55 (2013), T30 (2015), T24 (2017).
• He made a total of 26 putts and traded six birdies against two bogeys today.
• Kiradech’s season has been highlighted by a couple of impressive top-five finishes at the WGC-Mexico Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
• Kiradech has also enjoyed two other top-15s at the Memorial Tournament and U.S. Open.
• Earlier this year Kiradech won his third Asian Tour title at the 2018 ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth.
• C.T. Pan is making his WGC debut at the WGC-HSBC Champions this week.
• Patrick Reed won the Masters Tournament this year and also has one World Golf Championships title to his name when he emerged victorious at the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship.
• Reed still holds the distinction of being the youngest player ever to win a World Golf Championships event with his victory at the 2014 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at age 23 years, 7 months, 4 days.
• Patrick Reed was the only player in the field to hit all 18 greens in regulation today.

Players’ Quotes

Patrick Reed (Usa) First round 64 (-8)

It feels great. To be able to come out here and to be the first event back and to feel like I hit the ball really solid. I had full control, especially with how windy it was today. It felt really good because if you can go out and shoot rounds like that in these kind of conditions, you know you’re going to have confidence when the wind dies down and there are perfect conditions out there. I really just need to keep on taking it day by day and try to shoot the lowest round I can each day. Hopefully I’ll shoot a couple more of these rounds, I think that will help me out.

Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) First round 68 (-4)

I just tried to put the ball in the fairways and gave myself the opportunity to play the second shot. There’s a lot of birdies out there, but you can’t make a mistake. When you hit it in the wrong position, you might get hurt a lot. I spent some time in the hospital, two nights, and just feel fresh, ready to come out now. It was too hot in Malaysia, some dehydration, and some more rest, but so far I’ve been recovered and I’m good to go. I have to say, I’m playing very solid golf the last eight months. I got really confident in the last two World Golf Championships, I finished top five. I’ve been knocking on the doors. Went on the top in the first round. But just can’t make the job done. A lot of things went wrong in the last two rounds. But I’ve got more experience and I’ve got more confident going into this year. To be the first Thai golfer to play on the PGA TOUR brings about a lot of pressure. But I will try to win, you know, even one event. I hope to let the new generation see that despite coming from little country in Asia, we can play against the top players in the world. I just want to inspire them.

C.T. Pan (Tpe) First round 68 (-4)

It was great. I followed my strategy very well and made a couple really crucial putts out there for pars. That helped me a lot to stabilise my mind. Other than that, I just played very good. I gave myself a lot of good opportunities, and the last hole was great. I putted off the green into the hole. So that’s always a good finish. The conditions are hard. It’s windy and it’s swirling. It’s not consistent. So I hit a lot of low shots, just trying to keep it under control. But you know, you still have to hit the fairway and the tee shots are hard. You cannot really feel the wind on the tee box because you are surrounded by the trees. I will just follow my same strategy. All I’m trying to do is try to play more conservatively and give myself more opportunities out there. It’s great. (having his brother on his bag) He’s getting better. Last week I had an anger issue and said something bad on him, but other than that, he’s getting better and I’m getting better with him too. We had a blast out there.

Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) First round 72 (Even)

I’m little frustrated especially with those few pars coming in the last few holes. I think I could have done better. But it was a tough day. It was windy and the winds were swirling a lot but I’m looking forward to playing well in the next 54 holes. There’s still everything to play for and hopefully I can come back out again and play some good golf the next three days.

Leading Scores after round 1 of the WGC – HSBC Champions being played at the par 72, 7261 Yards Sheshan International Golf Club course (am – denotes amateur):

64 – Patrick REED (USA).

66 – Xander SCHAUFFELE (USA), Tony FINAU (USA).

67 – Matthew FITZPATRICK (ENG).

68 – Billy HORSCHEL (USA), Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG), Rafa CABRERA BELLO (ESP), Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA), C.T. PAN (TPE).

69 – George COETZEE (RSA), Adam SCOTT (AUS), Ian POULTER (ENG), Justin ROSE (ENG), Keegan BRADLEY (USA), Matt WALLACE (ENG).

70 – Pat PEREZ (USA), Ryan FOX (NZL), Patrick CANTLAY (USA), Andrew PUTNAM (USA), Kyle STANLEY (USA), Alexander BJORK (SWE), Chez REAVIE (USA), Emiliano GRILLO (ARG).

71 – JC RITCHIE (RSA), Alexander LEVY (FRA), Jason DAY (AUS).

72 – Satoshi KODAIRA (JPN), ZHANG Xinjun (CHN), Andrea PAVAN (ITA), Branden GRACE (RSA), Adam BLAND (AUS), Sihwan KIM (USA), Hideki MATSUYAMA (JPN), Adrian OTAEGUI (ESP), Brooks KOEPKA (USA), LIANG Wenchong (CHN), Andy SULLIVAN (ENG), Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND), Tyrrell HATTON (ENG), Rory MCILROY (NIR).