In this day and age where the PGA Tour wants its courses to yield really, really low scoring, the TPC West course over in Kuala Lumpur, which is in Malaysia, fits the bill.
The PGA Tour, in its unmatched quest for world domination, finds this latest cross-over season event, the CIMB Classic, on the other side of the world and Gary Woodland, it seems, is hotter than the weather over there.
Woodland fired a course record 61 on Friday with 11 birdies and has himself at a whopping 14-under par after 36 holes. As good as that sounds, it only earned him a share of the lead. Marc Leishman had a pretty spectacular day himself. The big Aussie shot 62 and will play with Woodland on Saturday.
The scoring barrage wasn’t limited to Woodland and Leishman. Paul Casey skipped the British Masters in his home country and after rounds of 66-65, finds himself at 13-under par along with one of India’s newest stars — Shubhankar Sharm (67-64).
Justin Thomas got off to a fast start on Thursday with a 66 but couldn’t keep pace with all the low numbers on Friday. J.T.’s 69 left him at nine-under, five back and tied for 15th.
As for Woodland, playing well at the TPC West course is nothing new for the long hitter. He finished runnerup to Ryan Moore at this event in 2013 and 2014.
”It’s nice to stay aggressive out there,” Woodland said. ”This golf course suits up pretty good for me, I’ve had success here in the past. It’s nice to be back and playing well.”
There are only 78 players in the field with no 36-hole cut.
