Front to Basic - Aussie leads Volvo
Masters of Asia with six-under 66

Bangkok, December 18: Neven Basic of Australia snatched the first round lead at the US$750,000 Volvo Masters of Asia with a superb six-under-par 66 on Thursday, days after a nerve-wracking wait to know the fate of his career.
The 30-year-old Australian produced a blemish-free card at Thai Country Club to lead by two shots from Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang and Adam Blyth of Australia in the Asian Tour’s season-ending tournament.
Lin, one of this season’s success stories with two wins, and Blyth shot bogey-free 68s while Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing, runner-up in Cambodia last weekend, was amongst those lying a further shot back.
Australians Marcus Both and Tony Carolan and South African veteran Hendrik Buhrmann also shot 69s to lie three off the pace.
Basic endured a nervous wait after missing the halfway cut in last week’s Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open as he was in 65th place on the Order of Merit, which was the cut-off mark to qualify for the Volvo Masters of Asia and more importantly earn full playing rights for 2009.
Fortunately for Basic, his rivals failed to overhaul him on the rankings.
“I am a lot more relaxed this week. It was a bit stressful in Cambodia and it is good to be able to go out and just play golf here. I just sat in my hotel room over the weekend and watched the live scores on the internet. It was quite stressful but I’m relieved now,” he said.
A five iron tee shot set him up for an opening birdie at the par three third hole which got his game into gear. Basic registered five more birdies to take pole position on day one but knows it is still a long race ahead in his hopes for a maiden Asian Tour title.
“I got into contention through two rounds at four or five events over the past year and a half and I’m going to take those experiences with me. I just need to relax and play. If it happens, it happens. You can’t force it to happen as it will normally end up in disaster,” said Basic, who has five top-10s in his two seasons in the region.
Lin has two goals this week - win the Volvo Masters of Asia and claim a place in the world’s top-50 which will come with a prized ticket to the US Masters next April.
A two-week break at home gave Lin’s injured shoulder time to heal and he was flawless with four birdies on the card. “I’m feeling good. I had four lip-outs for birdies but it was still a good round,” said Lin, winner of the UBS Hong Kong Open and the Asian Tour International in Thailand this season.
“Getting into the top-50 is in my mind. I am thinking about it but I have to keep my tempo on the golf course. I’m still feeling good after winning in Hong Kong (last month),” added Lin, who is ranked second on the Order of Merit and 51st in the world.
Blyth is enjoying his career best season where he is 16th on the rankings. With father Stephen on the bag, he launched his title assault with four birdies, although he was disappointed not to have birdied any of the par fives.
“We’re trying to win. I feel we’re getting closer. It’s just a matter of time. You just have to wait for it to be yours. I’m playing good enough and we’ll see at the end of the week if I’m good enough,” said Blyth.
Singaporean Lam extended his recent run of good form with a roller-coaster 69, which included seven birdies and four bogeys. “I’m starting to get my act together and play some golf,” said Lam, who is making his Volvo Masters of Asia debut.
“I’m happy with how it’s gone this year. Hopefully, there are another three more good rounds left in me. Playing well at the Barclays Singapore Open gave me the confidence that I was looking for. It showed that I could keep up with some of the best players in the world and it gave me the confidence to know that if I played well, I could actually win,” said Lam.
Thai star Thongchai Jaidee’s bid for an unprecedented third straight victory got off to a sluggish start as he carded a 73 while title holder Prayad Marksaeng was one shot higher to end the day in tied 46th place in the elite 68-man field.
Thongchai, a double Asian Tour number one and two-time Volvo Masters of Asia champion, lamented tough conditions at Thai Country Club. “The greens are very hard and it is difficult to stop the ball on them. It was windy in the afternoon, which made it harder – the players who were out in the morning had better conditions,” he said.
FIRST-ROUND LEADERS
66 Neven Basic (AUS)
68 Adam Blyth (AUS), Lin Wen-tang (TPE)
69 Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA), Tony Carolan (AUS), Mrcus Both (AUS), Lm Chih Bing (SIN)
70 Antonio Lascuna (PHI), Andrew Dodt (AUS), Gavin Flint (AUS), Mitchell Brown (AUS), Mardan Mamat (SIN), Gaurav Ghei (IND)
71 Danny Chia (MAS), Dinesh Chand (FIJ), Terry Pilkadaris (AUS), Shiv Kapur (IND), Chawalit Plaphol (THA), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Thaworn Wiratchant (THA), S.S.P. Chowrasia (IND)
72 Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Rick Kulacz (AUS), Wang Ter-chang (TPE), David Bransdon (AUS), Rashid Khan [A] (IND), Juvic Pagunsan (PHI), Chris Rodgers
(ENG), Rhys Davies (WAL)


For further information, please contact Asian Tour’s Chuah Choo Chiang at tel: +663 8570987. Also visit www.asiantour.com for live scoring.