Flawless Shin leads Garcia by a shot early on day one in Oman

 Flawless Shin leads Garcia by a shot early on day one in Oman

Yonggu Shin took advantage of benign early morning conditions to shoot a six-under-par 66 to take the clubhouse lead mid-way through the first round of the inaugural International Series Oman at Al Mouj Golf today.

The Canadian, who first shot to prominence last year when he finished joint second in the Shinhan Donghae Open, went bogey free and carded six birdies – in the second event of the season on the Asian Tour, and first International Series tournament.

Spanish star Sergio Garcia looked set to join him in first place but made bogey on his last hole to finish with a 67.

American Berry Henson is third after a 69, while Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe, Korean Yoseop Seo, Filipino Miguel Tabuena, Japan’s Mikumu Horikawa, Australian Zach Murray, and Miguel Carballo all fired 70s.

Shin breezed through the opening nine holes with birdies on four, five, six and eight, before further gains on 10 and 17.

“I really can’t complain, especially with the conditions out here,” said Shin.

“I got lucky being out first as the conditions were pretty good on the front nine and I managed to come away four under for those nine holes but then the wind picked up in the afternoon and made it tricky, so really happy to come away without any dropped shots.

“I walked off at 18 and that was the first time I realised I was leading so I definitely can’t be unhappy with that. I think as the wind continues to pick up that score will be difficult to get near so yeah very happy with the start, now I just want to relax into the rest of the week.”

Shin, whose family emigrated to Canada when he was three years old, also won on the Korean PGA Tour last year at The 4th Woosung Construction Open.

He added: “It is my first time in Oman, and also my first time in the Middle East so I am really excited. It is pretty cool, I’ve spent most of my time in the US, Korea and Canada so I’m so excited to be here. The course is in really great shape, it is tough out there, but I am really enjoying it and luckily I am playing pretty well.”

Garcia began his round on the 10th and was mid-leaderboard before a stunning run of five birdies on six holes starting on the second.

Said the Spaniard: “Obviously delighted. Mainly because my swing didn’t feel great, especially on the front nine, but then I got it going a bit on the back nine. Yeah, very happy with the score, especially with the wind picking up and how firm the greens are so very happy.”

The 43 year old, who recently returned to playing following a three-month break because of a torn meniscus, is attempting to win for the seventh time on the Asian Tour.

“I hit some really good iron shots out there,” added the 2017 Masters champion.

“Like I said I didn’t feel like I was striking the ball too well, but I was managing to make a few saves on the front nine and then on the back nine I got going a bit and made five birdies in six holes or something like that which was a great feeling.”

1

Yonggu Shin -6 F

2

Sergio Garcia -5 F

3

Berry Henson -3 F

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Sadom Kaewkanjana -3 11

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Mito Pereira -3 11

.

Andy Ogletree -3 10

7

Miguel Tabuena -2 F

.

Mikumu Horikawa -2 F

.

Miguel Carballo -2 F

.

Scott Vincent -2 F

.

Yoseop Seo -2 F

.

Zach Murray -2 F

.

Ryosuke Kinoshita -2 16

.

Ryo Hisatsune -2 14

.

Todd Sinnott -2 13

.

Nitithorn Thippong -2 12

.

Takumi Kanaya -2 12

.

Trevor Simsby -2 12

.

Kyongjun Moon -2 11

20

Angelo Que -1 F

.

Steve Lewton -1 F

.

Bio Kim -1 F

.

Jason Kokrak -1 F

.

Louis Oosthuizen -1 F

.

Peter Uihlein -1 13

.

Jarin Todd -1 12

.

Brooks Koepka -1 11

.

Sihwan Kim -1 11

.

Mathiam Keyser -1 10

30

Minkyu Kim Par F

.

Joaquin Niemann Par F

.

Shiv Kapur Par F

.

Gaganjeet Bhullar Par F

.

Chan Shih-chang Par F

.

Ben Campbell Par F

.

Gunn Charoenkul Par 16

.

Jinichiro Kozuma Par 15

.

Naraajie E. Ramadhanputra Par 15

.

Nicholas Fung Par 14

.

Ben Leong Par 14

.

Travis Smyth Par 12

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Kazuki Higa Par 12

.

Rashid Khan Par 12

.

El Mehdi Fakori (a) Par 9

.

Chonlatit Chuenboonngam Par 8

46

Lee Chieh-po +1 F

.

Settee Prakongvech +1 F

.

Natipong Srithong +1 F

.

Hiroshi Iwata +1 F

.

Hennie Du Plessis +1 F

.

Tomoharu Otsuki +1 F

.

Prayad Marksaeng +1 F

.

Graeme McDowell +1 F

.

Terry Pilkadaris +1 F

.

Taehee Lee +1 F

.

Matt Killen +1 F

.

Pavit Tangkamolprasert +1 15

.

Sangmoon Bae +1 13

.

Wocheng Ye +1 13

.

Matt Jones +1 11

.

Eugenio Chacarra +1 10

.

Carlos Ortiz +1 10

.

Suradit Yongcharoenchai +1 10

.

Pawin Ingkhapradit +1 10

.

Jyoti Randhawa +1 10

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Othman Almulla +1 10

.

Seungtaek Lee +1 9

.

Galven Green +1 9

.

Ayoub Lguirati +1 8

70

Alvaro Ortiz +2 F

.

Danthai Boonma +2 F

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Honey Baisoya +2 F

.

Kevin Yuan +2 15

.

James Piot +2 15

.

Branden Grace +2 13

.

Rattanon Wannasrichan +2 13

.

Andrew Dodt +2 12

.

Yuki Inamori +2 12

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Itthipat Buranatanyarat +2 11

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Karandeep Kochhar +2 11

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Atiruj Winaicharoenchai +2 10

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Siddikur Rahman +2 9

.

Jack Thompson +2 9

84

Kieran Vincent +3 F

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Wade Ormsby +3 F

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Hideto Tanihara +3 F

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Jazz Janewattananond +3 F

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Jaco Ahlers +3 F

.

Bjorn Hellgren +3 F

.

S.S.P Chawrasia +3 F

.

Yikeun Chang +3 16

.

Charl Schwartzel +3 11

.

Neil Schietekat +3 10

.

Saud Alsharif +3 9

95

Ian Snyman +4 F

.

Jbe Kruger +4 F

.

Marcus Fraser +4 F

.

Phachara Khongwatmai +4 F

.

Veer Ahlawat +4 15

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Mardan Mamat +4 14

.

Suteepat Prateeptienchai +4 14

.

Sanghyun Park +4 14

.

Peter Stojanovski +4 9

104

Chase Koepka +5 F

.

Turk Pettit +5 F

.

Prom Meesawat +5 F

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Laurie Canter +5 F

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Tirawat Kaewsiribandit +5 F

.

Chang Wei-lun +5 F

.

Faisal Salhab +5 F

.

Hung Chien-yao +5 F

.

Poom Saksansin +5 15

.

Taewoo Kim #1468 +5 10

.

Chikkarangappa S +5 10

115

Scott Hend +6 F

.

Jeev Milkha Singh +6 F

.

Zhengkai Bai +6 F

.

Shergo Al Kurdi +6 9

.

Zach Bauchou +6 8

120

Kosuke Hamamoto +7 F

.

Adam Bresnu (a) +7 F

.

Hugo Mazen Trommetter (a) +7 F

123

Issa Abouelela (a) +8 9

124

Hudson Swafford +9 F

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Justin Harding +9 F

.

Jediah Morgan +9 15

127

Saleh Alkaabi (a) +10 F

128

Ayman Al Busaidi (a) +15 F

129

Ahmed Al Wahaibi (a) +17 F

130

Azzan Al Rumhy (a) +22 F

131

Richard T. Lee RTD 7:50

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Taehoon Ok RTD 11:50