England’s Ben Jones turned up the heat today in the opening round of the Toyota Tour Championship in Kuala Lumpur today, his six-under-par score of 66 setting the pace in the penultimate round of the Asian Development Tour season.

A bogey on the last hole was the only flaw in an otherwise perfect round, giving Jones a one shot lead over the field at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club.

He leads a group of four players in the MYR400,000 event, with second place shared by Malaysia’s Daeng Abdul Rahman, Tanapat Pichaikool of Thailand, Laotian Thammasack Bouahom and Indonesia’s Rory Hie (67).

“I started on the back nine, and holed a nice putt on the first which is always good to get your round underway,” said Jones after his round.

“I birdied the next and then it was frustrating for the rest of the back nine to be honest, hit some good shots but just kept making pars,” he said.

“The golf course has been really good and the conditions have been immense considering the amount of rain they have had. These are probably the quickest greens I have played on all year, which I like, and I seemed to roll it ok,” he added.

The Toyota Tour Championship is the final leg of the Malaysian circuit and is also the penultimate stop on the Asian Development Tour. With just one round left in the 2024 season after this week, third-placed Tanapat was the highest ranked contender in the season-long ADT Order of Merit.

OOM leader Rahil Gangee (76) of India and second-placed Ahmad Baig (75) of Pakistan both had disappointing opening rounds so will be looking to make amends and regain the advantage tomorrow.

Indonesia’s Rory Hie shares second spot after an opening round of 68.

Ganjee started off well on the first nine with birdies on the second and eighth holes. But he lost the script on the back nine, his scorecard dogged by four bogeys and a double on the finishing par five 18th for a four-over par score.

India’s Pukhraj Singh Gill (68) heads a group in sixth spot, together with Filip Lundell of Sweden, Malaysia’s Leunkwang Kim and Edven Ying, and Thailand’s Waris Manthorn and Tirawat Kaewsribandit.

The Thai quartet of Kosuke Hamamoto, Nirun Sae-ueng, Amarin Kraivixien and Varanyu Rattanphiboonkij make up the largest contingent of the 12th placed finishers, alongside Malaysia’s Wan Hasnul Daniel, Amir Nazrin and Fakhrul Akmal (69).

They share the spot on three under par with Ayoub Lguirati of Morocco, Korea’s Minhyeok Yang and Liu Yung-hua of Chinese Taipei.

Malaysia’s leading golfer Gavin Green, back from Abu Dhabi after completing his season on the DP World Tour, started off with nine consecutive pars on the back nine. After crossing over he scored his first birdie of the day on the reachable par five first, then succumbed to bogeys on five and six. A welcome eagle on seven put him one-under until a bad shot on the ninth resulted in a triple bogey.

Said Green: “I started off okay but didn’t finish very well. Finished quite badly actually. Yeah, just a bit of an unlucky break and I hit a bad shot at the last. I’ve got to start making some putts because I missed a lot today. I need a low one tomorrow to even make the cut, so we’ll see.”

The first round of the 72-hole tournament was completed on schedule today and play will resume tomorrow, with the first groups heading out at 7.20am. The afternoon wave will commence at 11.55am.

In what was favourable scoring conditions on the Ross Watson-designed layout, 58 players played par or better and the cut after tomorrow’s round looks likely to be either one or two under.

Main picture: England’s Ben Jones pictured in action at the Toyota Tour Championship at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club. Picture courtesy Toyota Tour Championship.