Asian Tour Press Release

ILONEN AND CAROLAN SHARE FIRST
ROUND LEAD AT BALLANTINE’S
CHAMPIONSHIP IN KOREA

Jeju Island, Korea, March 13: Finland’s Mikko Ilonen and Australia’s Tony Carolan fired matching five under-par 67s to take a share of the first round at the inaugural Ballantine’s Championship at the Pinx Golf Club on Thursday.
Asian Tour regular, Carolan enjoyed a blemish free round that was highlighted by five birdies to set up the possibility of winning his first Asian Tour title, but not after having to sack his caddie.
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Ilonen also got off to a quick start with two birdies in his first three holes to remain in contention for his third career title win.
Asian Tour 2006 Order of Merit winner, Jeev Milkha Singh, overcame a bad flu bout and the effects of a freak accident last week to set himself up for his first win of the year after he finished in joint-third place with nine other players on 68.
Japan’s Shingo Katayama, Korea’s Hwang Inn-choon, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, Australia’s Scott Hend, Ireland’s Paul McGinley, Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng, America’s Anthony Kim, England’s Simon Griffiths and Jyoti Randhawa of India are the others, all tied for third.
Carolan had his new driver and three-wood to thank for giving him a good start at this week’s US$2.9 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Korean PGA.
“I’ve put a new driver and three‑wood in the bag this week, and I’m quite happy with my them. There's a lot of holes out here where I can hit my three‑wood 250 and leave myself a solid eight or nine‑iron to the greens,” said Carolan.
However, it was not particularly an easy day for the 39-year old, as he had to deal with giving his caddie a sack too.
“He was just terrible! I'm paying him US$160 and he was moving and jiggling with the clubs while I was putting. He also had soft spikes on, so he wasn't allowed on the greens. After I went par, birdie, birdie, I sacked him,” said Carolan.
The burly Australian will now be working with his new caddie to bring him closer to the honour of being the first to lift the inaugural trophy as well as claim his maiden career breakthrough title.
The story of the day, however belonged to Singh as he demonstrated how the strength of the human spirit was able to triumph above everything else, overcoming the trauma and pain of a freak buggy accident during a pro-am tournament in Kuala Lumpur last week.
“We saw the tree and I told my caddie to brake but instead of braking, he pressed the accelerator and we hit it head on. I went flying through the windscreen, hit my head and lucky the windscreen was plastic and not glass, if not I wouldn’t know what would have happened,” recalled Singh, who is also nursing the effects of a flu bout this week.
“I had a little bit of concussion. I fell out of the buggy and I haven’t been feeling too good after that,” added Singh.
Despite the misfortune, Singh is looking forward to this week with renewed vigour and is determined to get his game back on track.
Starting at the 10th tee, Singh came out of the blocks with three successive birdies in his first four holes before closing at the turn with a double bogey.
The 36-year old however, bounced back with three successive birdies after the turn to complete a remarkable day.
“It wasn’t a good week last week but it’s a new week and I had a good start. That’s all that matters now,” said Singh.
Australia’s Scott Hend, who had an afternoon tee-start, appeared to be gaining a share of the first-round lead with Carolan and Ilonen after cruising to a 32 that was highlighted by an eagle and three birdies before the turn.
However, he made two costly bogeys on the 12th and closing 18th to finish a stroke behind the leaders.
Hend, who finished fourth on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, still remains upbeat and optimistic about the week ahead.
“All my bunker shots were great. I managed to climb one out of a tree for a birdie on the eighth. It was about a foot and a half stuck in the ground of the tree and I smashed the sand out of the tree. It was nice, very happy,” laughed Hend. “I haven’t played too well in the last couple of weeks, so it’s about time.”
Korea’s sporting icon, Choi Kyung-yu, who had many of the local crowd cheering him on, had to endure a slow start after finishing the day on 71.
“I guess the double‑bogey (on the 7th hole) got to me. The play tended to be a bit slow, so I struggled with it. Also, reading the greens was an issue today. I think there's a lot of practise for me to do today,” said Choi.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
67 Tony Carolan (Aus), Mikko Ilonen (Fin).
68 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Inn-choon Hwang (Kor), Graeme McDowell, Simon Griffiths, Scott Hend (Aus), Anthony Kim (USA), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Paul McGinley, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Shingo Katayama (Jpn).
69 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Garry Houston, David Griffiths, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Tae-hyun Jun (Kor), David Frost (Rsa), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Johan Edfors (Swe), Hyung-tae Kim (Jpn), Adam Blyth (Aus).
70 Oliver Wilson, Oliver Fisher, Anthony Kang (USA), Juvic Pagunsan (Phi), Scott Barr (Aus), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Sung-chul Bae (Kor), David Gleeson (Aus), Chris DiMarco (US), Sang-ki Kim (Kor), Paul Broadhurst, Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Gary Simpson (Aus), Stephen Gallacher, Tom Whitehouse, Ariel Canete (Arg)
71 Damien McGrane, Prom Meesawat (Tha), Shih-chang Chan (Hkg), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Simon Yates, Jong Yul Suk (Kor), Do-kyu Park (Kor), Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe), Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), David Lynn, Hyung-kyu Choi (Kor), Kane Webber (US), Soon-sang Hong (Kor), Thammanoon Srirot (Tha), Sang-moon Bae (Kor), KJ Choi (Kor), Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Phillip Archer, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Padraig Harrington, Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Thomas Levet (Fra)
72 Young-Woo Nam (Kor), Gaurav Ghei (Ind), Yong-jin Shin (Kor), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe), Adam Groom (Aus), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Felipe Aguilar (Col), Iain Steel (Mal), David Bransdon (Aus), Young-soo Park (Kor), Mark Foster, Gavin Flint (Aus), Hyung-sung Kim (Kor), Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
73 Robert Dinwiddie, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Gerald Rosales (Phi), Yong-eun Yang (Kor), Artemio Murakami (Phi), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Chen-chih Jang (Tpe), Ted Oh (Kor), Richard Bland, Airil Rizman (Mal), Seung-ho Lee (Kor), Scott Strange (Aus), Julio Zapata (Arg), Chris Rodgers, Mardan Mamat (Sin), Sung-hoon Kang (Kor), Carl Suneson (Spa), In-woo Lee (Kor), Wook-Soon Kang (Kor), Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha).
74 Zane Scotland, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Luis Claverie (Spa), Tomohiro Kondo (Jpn), Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Eddie Lee (Nzl), Marcus Both (Aus), Young jin Kim (Kor), Lei Shang (Tpe), Joong Kyung Mo (Kor), S K Ho (Kor)
75 Richard Lee (Nzl), Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn), Frankie Minoza (Phi), Dae-hyun Kim (Kor), Kyung-nam Kang (Kor)
76 Bryan Saltus (USA), Wei Chih Lu (Tha), Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Gary Murphy, Rory McIlroy, Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Jean Van de velde (Fra), Sandy Lyle, Chang-yoon Kim (Kor)
77 Wi-joong Kim (Kor), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Unho Park (Aus), Young-kyu Kim (Kor), Jason Knutzon (USA), Lee Sung (Kor), Jin-ho Choi (Kor)
79 Nam-sin Park (Kor)
80 Doo-hwan Bang (Kor)