Waring sets early tempo

Paul Waring followed a hole-in-one on Thursday with a round of 68 on Friday to grab the clubhouse lead at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

The Englishman, who turned 30 on Monday, aced the 15th during his opening round 69 and added four birdies against a single bogey on his return to Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

That put Waring, whose best finish on The European Tour came when he was third in Portugal two years ago, seven under par for the tournament and one ahead of overnight leaders Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood.

The Ryder Cup pair were not due out until the afternoon, and had been surpassed by another Englishman as Richard Bland played his first 12 holes in three under to join Waring in a tie at the top.

Korea’s Kang Sung-hoon had dominated the morning’s early action as four birdies in eight holes took him to nine under, but the regular on the co-sanctioning Asian Tour bogeyed the ninth, 11th and 12th to drop back alongside McDowell and Westwood.

Malaysian Danny Chia, England’s Tommy Fleetwood, Argentine Emiliano Grillo, Ireland’s Peter Lawrie and in-form Austrian Bernd Wiesberger were all tied for sixth on five under.