Hong Kong’s Kho takes early clubhouse lead in World City Championship

Advised by his caddie to aim his approach left, Kho said his gut feeling was he could “go right at” the flag.

“I hit a 7-iron to like a foot and tapped it in and that was a good start to the round,” Kho said.

A birdie at the 17th took him to the turn at five-under, before the only blemish on his round at the 1st, which he bogeyed. Birdies at four and the 10th, where he drained a 10-footer, followed for his lowest round on the composite course at Fanling.

“I actually never play this layout other than in tournaments here,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of the individual holes on New Course and Eden Course, so they’ve definitely picked the best holes from both courses.

“It’s like playing four holes of an 18-hole round, it’s still quite early, there is still a lot of golf to be played and I’ll carry some of that momentum into tomorrow.”

Although his scored wouldn’t suggest it, Kho admitted to being nervous and with a large crowd following him around said there had been more noise that he was used to.

Not that he was that surprised by the nerves, saying he had prepared mentally for the event pretty well.

“It was quite a new experience for me teeing it up today, and I think it was really important to focus on what I can control,” he said. “I can’t control what I shoot, I can’t control what I hit, I can control my process leading up to that, so that’s what I focused on and I did a really good job today.”