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Moore, 27, arrived in Malaysia last Friday to acclimatize to the time change and weather conditions and sizzled with seven birdies. He has earned over US$2 million this season on the PGA Tour but is winless.

"For me, this is my last chance to get a win and finish off the year the way I want to,"said Moore. "It was a good season. I feel like it was better than last year and last year I had a win. That's what I'm coming here for. It's my last tournament of the year.

"The greens rolled good and you can give yourself good birdie chances. It gives you a chance to make 20, 25 footers."

US-based Wi, who has won twice in Malaysia previously, birdied his closing two holes to stay close to the leader. "We got three more rounds to go and I really enjoyed the course. If you want to win a tournament, you have to be as close to the lead as possible,"said Wi, who is chasing a first PGA Tour victory.

Davis does not want to simply be remembered as the honest guy who called a two-stroke penalty on himself during a play-off defeat to Jim Furyk in the Verizon Heritage in April and hopes to come out on top at the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysi.

"It changed my life really. It's not often a loss changes your life but it did,"said Davis, who took advantage of being the first match out to shoot six birdies. "It's been a weird year. I've had a couple of close calls but haven't really played up to my standard. This game is funny. You can all of the sudden win one and have a great year."

Pariya, who secured his maiden Asian Tour victory earlier this month, soared high to feature on the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia leaderboard. "My irons were razor sharp. It went exactly where I wanted to go,"said the Thai, a graduate from the Purdue University and also a licenced pilot.

Although there is a US$1 million top prize on offer, the 26-year-old is not letting it distract his focus. "I set my goal this week for an experience and that's what I got. I'll let my skill do the talking. These guys are my idols. I'm not going to compete with them. I'll just play my golf and get my experience in,"said the Thai.

The title sponsor of the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia is CIMB Group. CIMB Group is one of Southeast Asia's leading universal banking franchises. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur with key offices across South East Asia, CIMB Group offers a full suite of financial services and related products. Read more about CIMB Group at www.cimb.com.

Complete first round scores

63 - Ricky Barnes (USA)

64 - Ryan Moore (USA)

65 - Brian Davis (ENG), Carl Pettersson (SWE), Charlie Wi (KOR)

66 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA), Mardan Mamat (SIN), Martin Laird (SCO)

67 - D.J. Trahan (USA), Michael Sim (AUS), Ben Crane (USA), Tim Clark (RSA), Ernie Els (RSA)

Luke Donald (ENG)

68 - Heath Slocum (USA), Arjun Atwal (IND), Rickie Fowler (USA), Andrew Dodt (AUS)

69 - Lam Chih-Bing (SIN), Tom Gillis (USA), Kevin Streelman (USA), Siddikur (BAN), Adam Scott (AUS), Retief Goosen (RSA)

70 - Marc Leishman (AUS), Kevin Na (USA), K.J. Choi (KOR), Marcus Fraser (AUS)

71 - John Senden (AUS), Thaworn Wiratchant (THA), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN), Noh Seung-yul (KOR)

72 - Shaaban Hussin (MAS), Y.E. Yang (KOR), Robert Allenby (AUS), Bill Haas (USA), Ryan Palmer (USA)