Round one of the SIFA Samoa Open & Samoa Senior Open saw players’ battle through sweltering conditions on Thursday.

Three players
have set the early pace including 41-year-old local Samoan Professional Malase
Maifea who posted 5-under 67 to join Mitchell A. Brown and Wednesday’s pro-am
winner R.J. Caracella.

Brown and
Maifea were paired together and it was Maifea who showed the way for the
majority of the day until a late bogey dropped him back into a share for the
lead heading into Friday’s second round.

"I played
well today and it was good to play with Mitchell and Martin Dive who also
played well," said Maifea.

Maifea had
six birdies and a lone bogey on the par-5 16^th hole; it was a
similar story for Brown who also carded six birdies along with a bogey on the
difficult par-4 8^th hole.

Caracella
experienced a much more up and down day which was highlighted by seven birdies
and a chip in eagle on the short par-4 9th hole.

"I feel
comfortable out here on this course and played well in the pro-am so hopefully
I haven’t used up all my luck and can keep it going over the next few days,"
said Caracella.

Caracella shot
a remarkable 10-under 62 in Wednesday’s pro-am to establish favouritism heading
into the Samoa Open.

Former PGA TOUR
winner Andre Stolz is in contention after posting a 3-under-par round of 69 to
sit two shots back.

In the Senior
Open which is part of the E-Z-GO Legends Tour, it was defending champion
Richard Backwell who started where he left off in 2014, posting a 2-under 70 to
join Legends Tour rookie Guy Wall.

The pair take
a narrow lead over Fijian Krishna Singh and Geoff Nicholas who posted rounds of
1-under 71.

Round two
begins from 8:30am from both the 1^st and 10^th tees with
Saturday’s third and final round being a seeded draw.

Royal Samoa
Country Club located in Apia, Samoa is again playing host to the tournament for
the first time since 2013.

The Samoa Open
is also being utilised as the final qualifying event for the Samoan national
team which competes in the upcoming Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.