Suteepat Prateeptienchai rediscovered a bit of form following a recent club change at the Ambassador ADT event in Chinese Taipei today, posting a first round score of 62 to take an early lead.

The Thai golfer has a particular affiliation with playing in Chinese Taipei, having scored three wins there on the Asian Tour, and is looking to restart his season with a good performance again there this week.

Starting on the back nine, he scored three straight pars before stretching his legs with five birdies before the turn, and two more before a hole out eagle cemented his lead.

A double bogey on the par four seventh hole was the only falw on hsi scorecard and he leads his close friend Liu Yen-hung (64) of Chinese Taipei by two shots.

“On seven I hit this big slice,” he explained posting his score in the US$100,000 Asian development Tour event. “I was in the hazard, chipped out, two putts,” he added.

“Otherwise today I did really well,” he said. “I missed only one hole, made double on seven but I putted very well today. I missed only two fairways but just in the rough, not in the jungle or the hazard.

“For my eagle, I hit the fairway, then hit a three wood over the green but I chipped in,” he explained.

He credited a recent change to Titleist for his recent form and said he was still getting used to the change in equipment and was looking forward to improving his results on the Asian Tour.

“This year I haven’t been playing well on the Asian Tour, I’ve played maybe five or six events but just made one cut. The course here is a bit different, the greens are a bit slower which makes chipping and downhill putts a bit easier,” he added.

After a first round with some drizzle, organisers are hoping for better weather tomorrow, although rain is forecast which may affect the course of play.

Thailand’s Chanat Sakilpolphaisan (66) holds solo third spot after the opening round, with three bogeys offset by seven birdies and an eagle on the par five ninth hole.

In fourth spot, with a first round score of 67, Ryoto Furuya of the USA is joined by Italy’s Michele Ortolani, Japan’s Naoki Sekito and Shariffuddin Ariffin of Malaysia.

In eighth place, Chinese Taipei players Ho Yu-cheng, Huang Yi-tseng, Chang Wei-lun, and Liu Yung-hua are joined by Grant Godfrey of the USA, England’s Matt Killen, Hoho Yue of Hong Kong and Indonesia’s Kevin Akbar.

Play will continue in the second round of this 72-hole tournament tomorrow with the first groups off at 6.50am. The afternoon wave will set off at 11.40am.

Main picture: Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai pictured in action at the Ambassador ADT event in Chinese Taipei.