Ben Leong Leads At Malaysian Open

News for Golf - Local professional Ben Leong started the opening round of the 2011 Maybank Malaysian Open held at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club with a two-under-70.

He is currently the top Malaysian in the US$2.5 million (RM8 million) championship.

"It is not great and it is not bad but I am right in there. Three more days to go and I am looking forward to tomorrow's round. I don't have a target for this tournament because I'm struggling with my golf game. I want to try and get back into the groove because I had quite a lengthy break," said Ben.

Ben, 25, just suffered a back injury when he played basketball last week.

"It wasn't a smart move but I was fortunate enough to recover to play here. I hit a lot of greens. My tee to green was good. Overall, it could be a lot worst or a lot better," said Ben, who turned professional after representing Malaysia in the Asian Games in Doha in 2006. He last clinched an Asian Tour competition at the Worldwide Selangor Masters in 2008.

Danny Chia scrambled to a 71 to be the next best local challenger in the competition, which was jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

Iain Steel escaped the projected cut at joint 72 with an even par-72 score in the opening round.

Malaysia's national player Chan Tuck Soon was still in contention after having a two-under score at 17th hole before the competition was suspended due to lightning at 7.05pm.

Tuck Soon and 11 more players will continue their game tomorrow morning.