Turner goes off his greens in Myanmar

Turner goes off his greens in Myanmar
YANGON-MYANMAR- The sunrise over the lake near the 18th greenduring the Pro-am event ahead of the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open on Wednesday January 25, 2017, at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club, Yangon, Myanmar. The USD$ 750.000 Asian Tour event is co-sanctione…

YANGON-MYANMAR- The sunrise over the lake near the 18th greenduring the Pro-am event ahead of the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open on Wednesday January 25, 2017, at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club, Yangon, Myanmar. The USD$ 750.000 Asian Tour event is co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour, January 26 – 29, 2017.  Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour

Niall Turner had a day to forget on the greens as he opened with a five over 76 in the Leopalace21 Myanmar Open on Thursday.

The Muskerry man had two three putts in a 36-putt round at Pun Hlaing Golf Club in Yangon, finishing the day near the back of the field in a tie for 136th.

Playing just his second event after returning from a five-month injury layoff, Turner started on the back nine and went out in four over par as he bogeyed the 10th and then dropped three shots in a row from the 15th.

His second three-putt of the day led to another bogey at the first and while he made birdie twos at the short third and the sixth holes, he bogeyed the seventh and eighth to end the day four shots outside the projected cut mark and 11 strokes behind leaders Angelo Que of the Philippines and Azuma Yano of Japan.

The leading pair shot six-under-par 65s in the US$750,000 event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

Korean star K.T. Kim, a 13-time winner in Japan, share third with compatriot Junggon Hwang, last week’s Open Championship qualifier Jbe Kruger of South Africa, Makoto Inoue of Japan, Keith Horne of South Africa, American rookie Kim Sihwan and Thailand’s Sutijet Kooratanapisan.

Leopalace21 Myanmar Open 2017, Pun Hlaing GC course (Par 71, 7103 Yards)

65 Angelo QUE (PHI), Azuma YANO (JPN).

66 K.T. KIM (KOR), Junggon HWANG (KOR), Makoto INOUE (JPN), Keith HORNE (RSA), Jbe KRUGER (RSA), Sihwan KIM (USA), Sutijet KOORATANAPISAN (THA).

67 Daniel CHOPRA (SWE), Shiv KAPUR (IND), Miguel TABUENA (PHI), Yusaku MIYAZATO (JPN), Natipong SRITHONG (THA).

68 Gavin GREEN (MAS), Rahil GANGJEE (IND), Chiragh KUMAR (IND), Piya SWANGARUNPORN (THA), Yoshinobu TSUKADA (JPN), Masanori KOBAYASHI (JPN), Chan KIM (USA), Danthai BOONMA (THA), Lionel WEBER (FRA), Mingyu CHO (KOR), Daisuke KATAOKA (JPN).

69 Michio MATSUMURA (JPN), Richard T. LEE (CAN), Kyungnam KANG (KOR), Prom MEESAWAT (THA), Katsumasa MIYAMOTO (JPN), Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA), Ryutaro NAGANO (JPN), Terry PILKADARIS (AUS), Casey O’TOOLE (USA), Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS), Rikuya HOSHINO (JPN), Yoshitaka TAKEYA (JPN), Jinichiro KOZUMA (JPN).

76 Niall TURNER (IRL).