Cole Madey is a player to look out for in the future

Not much is known about American Cole Madey on the Asian Tour — this week’s International Series — Morocco is only his third event on Tour. But based on Thursday’s opening round of six-under par 67, which gave him the clubhouse lead, it looks like he could be a player to look out for in the future.

An eagle and four birdies put Madey in control at Royal Golf Dar es Salaam, midway through the first round, ahead of Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut, who carded a 69 and Spanish rookie David Puig and Lu Wei-chih of Chinese-Taipei, who returned 70s.

Madey is 25-years-old and after graduating from UCLA, he turned professional in 2019 with high hopes of travelling the globe and playing golf but the Covid-19 pandemic immediately scuppered those plans.

However, he was able to get back on track last year and play the PGA Tour Latin America before also getting a couple of starts on the Asian Tour in March this year in Thailand.

“With things shutdown for a couple of years I didn’t really get my feet wet in professional golf,” said the American.

“But now I am starting to travel and play pro golf, learning how to manage my time and so on. I have been learning a lot and the events I played on the Asian Tour in Thailand were great and now I am here, I love to travel, and the Asian Tour is an incredible organisation.”

No dropped shots

A six under round with no dropped shots is an impressive performance on the testing Red Course at Royal Golf Dar es Salaam. Madey felt he was helped by the fact that the course reminds him of a favourite layout in the US.

He said, “I love the course, it reminds of a course I played in the States, called Saticoy Golf Club, where the greens are extremely undulating, and unforgiving on some approach shots meaning the ball can spin off the green. I really like it, I am from the North-West where there are also a lot of trees, it suits my eye.”

He made his first birdie on seven, eagled the par-five eighth, and birdied 13 before closing with birdies on 17 and 18.

“I putted pretty solid,” he said. “My driver was a little shaky in the beginning. I made all my four footers, which was important. There are some huge slopes so it’s important not to try and leave yourself too much work with 30 or 40 footers.”

Hard work

Spaniard David Puig is playing in only his second event as a professional having turned professional in September.

“I didn’t play a tournament since September, which was the LIV Golf event in Chicago, so it’s been a month and a half of complete grind on the driving range,” said the 20 year-old former amateur star at Arizona State University.

“I played pretty good. I think I am swinging the club better. I worked pretty hard, you know I usually struggle a little off the tee, but I hit it pretty good off the tee which helped, so I am pretty happy with the round overall.”

He has spent his time off in the States working with golf coach Dave Philips and Sean Drake, an athlete chiropractor.

He added: “I think we did a really good job the last month a half. I am excited to keep going this week and next week. They (Philips and Drake) are both very good, the know each other, they are connected, so what I needed to improve on the course I practiced it with the chiropractor, with helped with technique and everything.”