EDDIE Pepperell's bid to challenge the leaders was derailed when he dropped three shots in two holes during the first round of the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

The 27-year-old, from Abingdon, had to settle for a three-under-par round of 69, four shots behind the leader Englishman Chris Paisley.

When he stepped onto the sixth tee – his 15th hole – Pepperell was five under par, having birdied three of the previous five holes.

But he bogeyed that hole and then had a double-bogey five at the par-three seventh.

His topsy-turvy round continued, when he birdied the eighth. He finished with a par at the ninth for his round of 69, which put him in joint 26th position.

Pepperell is looking to make the halfway cut, which he has failed to do in his two previous 2018 tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.