Thomas three behind Burgoon after opening round in Kuala Lumpur
- by Israel Caldwell
- in Sports
- — Oct 13, 2018
Other stars in the tournament include defending champion Perez, Billy Horschel, last week's victor Kevin Tway, Brandt Snedeker, Xander Schauffele and Keegan Bradley, last year's runner-up here.
Pat Perez of the United States in action during the final round of the 2017 CIMB Classic at TPC Kuala Lumpur on October 15, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sharma won February's Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur and he returns to the Malaysian capital on top of the Asian Tour prize money standings ahead of the dual-sanctioned event.
"I was still the first reserve on Sunday and I had a 0030 Cathay flight on Monday to fly to KL and also a 2330 redeye to Florida from San Francisco because if I wasn't getting in, I was just going to go back to Florida".
As you know, I had my shoulder surgery in 2016 and then I received a sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament later that year and while I didn't win then, it gave me the confidence that I needed in my comeback and I subsequently won in Mayakoba (the only PGA TOUR tournament held in Mexico). "I think my wedge game is a strong suit of mine and you have a lot of wedges out here, so I've been able to take advantage of that", said Thomas.
Burgoon appeared in line for more of the same past year before turning things around over the summer. "It was a very instrumental part of my career, for sure" said the world No. 4.
"I drove it well and I putted pretty good, so it was kind of boring golf, but that's always a good thing", he said.
Kuala Lumpur: There are four Indians in the CIMB Classic field this week, the largest number of Indians in a PGA event ever. "I haven't been back in about four years, so the course I knew had always played really a lot of low scores".
"I haven't really thought about anything or set any goals".
The 31-year-old from Bengaluru finished tied third at the corresponding event in 2015. Ernie Els shot 72 and was 10 strokes behind. "Last year I feel like I banged on the door a couple times". Any Presidents Cup is special, but this time we're going to be playing on home ground, on home turf rather, and I think it's going to be different.
It kicks off a swing of three big tournaments in Asia for the 21-year-old, along with next week's CJ Cup in South Korea and the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
