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Last-hole birdie sees Siddikur share lead

Siddikur Rahman fired his best score at the challenging Wack Wack Golf and Country Club to share the opening-round lead with Chan Kim on six-under 66 at the ICTSI Philippine Open in Manila yesterday.

Siddikur, the first Bangladeshi to play and win on the Asian Tour, birdied the last hole from five feet to cap his best effort on the Wack Wack course where his previous low round was a 71 at the 2011 Philippine Open.

Little known Rolando Marabe, a former caddy who turned professional in 1997, led the local charge after shooting a 69 to tie with four-time Asian Tour winner Chawalit Plaphol in third place, reported asiantour.com.

Siddikur, who was part of Team Asia that tied with Team Europe in the inaugural EurAsia Cup earlier this year, was delighted to rediscover his deft putting touch as he negotiated the tricky Wack Wack greens in 26 putts.

It was a welcome return to form for the popular Bangladeshi, who uncharacteristically missed the cut in his last two Asian Tour events.

"I was confident that my putting touch would come back. In golf sometimes you enjoy a good run of form and sometimes you don't. I sank about 80 per cent of my putts which was reflected in my score on this golf course," said the 29-year-old.

LEADERBOARD

66: Chan Kim, Siddikur Rahman. 69: Rolando Marabe, Chawalit Plaphol. 70: Park Byung Joo, Prayad Marksaeng, Michael Tran, Settee Prakongvech, Marcus Both. 71: Rufino Bayron, Nathan Holman, Lin Wen-tang, Jay Bayron, Rupert Saragoza (am), Daisuke Kataoka, Angelo Que, S.S.P Chowrasia, Mithun Perera, Paul Peterson.Selected: 
72: Unho Park. 74: Koh Dengshan. 75: Mardan Mamat, Choo Tze Huang, Lam Zhiqun, Lam Chih Bing. 76: Zaw Moe. 77: Quincy Quek.