Rookie Finn leads at Asian Tour
International at Bangkok
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Finland’s Toni Karjalainen began his rookie year on the Asian Tour strongly when he carded a second round 12-under-par 64 to take over the lead in the Asian Tour International tournament at Suwan Golf & Country Club, Bangkok today.
Overnight leader Marcus Both of Australia is a shot behind after posting a 68 for a 11-under-par 131 total while Japan’s Tetsuji Hiratsuka took third place on 68.
Fellow compatriot, Hirotaro Naito finished with a 66 to take fourth place while Korea’s Ted Oh and India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar are among the eight players bunched together in fifth place on 134.
When play finally resumed after being delayed for approximately 50 minutes due to the heavy morning fog, Karjalainen quickly got off the blocks with birdie-birdie in his opening back-nine.
He continued his birdie blitz on the 17th and 18th before making the turn in 31. The Finn stormed home strongly in his inward run with another three more birdies on the second, sixth and ninth holes to cap a deserving start to his rookie season.
“It has been really good for me so far. I made it through qualifying school and with this being my first tournament on the Asian Tour, things are looking fairly nice at the moment,” said Karjalainen who secured his Asian Tour card by finishing in tied-19th place at Qualifying School.
Meanwhile, Both continued to pile the pressure on the Finn despite not being able to match up to his first round performance.
“I probably didn’t hole as many putts as I did yesterday and there’s still some work to do.,” said Both.
“I need to sharpen up some of the techniques which my coach and I have been working on and I think I should be okay after that,” added the Australian.
Hiratsuka who began the day in second place mixed five birdies and two bogeys to drop one place down to third while fellow compatriot, Naito who is seeking his first professional win on Tour, fired six birdies against a lone bogey on the par-four, 14th to stay in contention for top honours at the US$300,000 full-field Asian Tour event.
“It has been a good day of golf out there and I’m really enjoying myself. I just have to continue to work hard and hopefully, it’ll all come together,” said the 26-year-old Japanese.
After enjoying an impressive run midway through the 2008 season by posting three consecutive top-10 finishes at the Brunei Open, Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational and Mercuries Taiwan Masters, Oh is also among the leaders who are riding on their rich vein of form coming into this event.
“The greens were tough to read but I still made a couple of good drives, especially on the par-fives. I’ve been putting myself into very good positions for birdies over the last two days and I hope to continue doing that,” said the Korean, who recorded two-day round scores of 68 and 66.
Bhullar continued to stake his claim for his maiden Asian Tour title. The Indian got off to a good start with three successive birdies on his starting back-nine and looked poised to grab the lead held by Karjalainen until two costly bogeys on the second and ninth hole ruined his card.
“I didn’t hit the ball that well today. It wasn’t that close to the pins but they were all on the green,” said Bhullar.
“However I think I still played well overall except for my finishing ninth hole which I continued to drop shots yesterday and today,” added the Indian.
Defending champion Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei failed to make the weekend cut after disappointing rounds of 73 and 72.
The cut was set at two-under with a total of 72 players making it to the weekend rounds.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 142 (2 x 71)
130 Toni Karjalainen (FIN) 66-64
131 Marcus Both (Aus) 63 68
132 Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 64 68
133 Hirotaro Naito (Jpn) 67 66
134 Ted Oh (Kor) 68 66, Noh Seung-Yul (Kor) 68 66, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 69 65, Mark Purser (Nzl) 68 66, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 66 68, James Kamte (Rsa) 71 63, Unho Park (Aus) 65 69, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 65 69
135 Michael Light (Aus) 68 67, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 63, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 66 69, Rhys Davies (Wal) 69 66, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 69 66
136 Michio Matsumura (Jpn) 71 65, Bryan Saltus (USA) 72 64, Akinori Tani (Jpn) 70 66, Atthaphon Prathummanee (Tha) 68 68, Mo Joong-Kyung (Kor) 66 70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 66, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 67 69, Gavin Flint (Aus) 67 69, Danny Chia (Mal) 67 69
137 Prom Meesawat (Tha) 69 68, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 68 69, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 71 66, Kim Bi-O (Kor) 69 68, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 71 66, Somkiat Srisanga (Tha) 69 68, Adam Groom (Aus) 67 70
138 Wu Ashun (Chn) 67 71, Darren Beck (Aus) 72 66, Angelo Que (Phi) 71 67, Tim Stewart (Aus) 69 69, Tatsuya Sato (Jpn) 74 64, Nakul Vichitryuthasastr (Tha) 69 69, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 71, S.Siva Chandhran (Mal) 68 70, Kim Hyung-Sung (Kor) 71 67, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 69 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 68, Rory Hie (Ina) 71 67
139 Andrew Marshall (Eng) 70 69, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 68, Tony Carolan (Aus) 71 68, Simon Griffiths (Eng) 68 71, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 72 67, Airil Rizman (Mal) 73 66, Nathan Uebergang (Aus) 70 69, Jason Norris (Aus) 72 67, Rohan Blizard (Aus) 70 69, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 71 68, Kim Hyung-Tae (Kor) 70 69
140 Motoharu Mukai (Jpn) 71 69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 71, Zaw Moe (Mya) 68 72, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 68, Tatsuhiko Ichihara (Jpn) 68 72, Park Jun-Won (Kor) 70 70, Kwanchai Tannin (Tha) 70 70, Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn) 71 69, John Parry (Eng) 73 67, Somchai Pongpaew (Tha) 72 68, Wisut Artjanawat (Tha) 67 73, Lin Wen-Hong (Tpe) 72 68, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71 69, Scott Barr (Aus) 69 71, Young Nam (Kor) 72 68, Nozomi Kawahara (Jpn) 68 72
MISSED THE CUT
141 Scott Hend (Aus) 71 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 72 69, C Muniyappa (Ind) 72 69, Olle Nordberg (Swe) 72 69, Mitchell Brown (Aus) 70 71, Christopher Campbell (Aus) 69 72, James Kruger (Rsa) 72 69
142 Panuwat Muenlek (Tha) 69 73, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 70 72, Andrew Welsford (Aus) 70 72, Choengchai Panpumpo (Tha) 75 67, Will Yanagisawa (USA) 73 69, Lu Wen-Teh (Tpe) 72 70, Wang Ter-Chang (Tpe) 72 70, Lu Wei-Chih (Tpe) 71 71, Ronnachai Jamnong (Tha) 71 71, Pongthep Jaewchumnanchao (Tha) 70 72
143 Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 73 70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 70, Udorn Duangdecha (Tha) 72 71, Varut Chomchalam (Tha) 71 72, Hiroshi Iwata (Jpn) 71 72, Makoto Inoue (Jpn) 73 70, Neven Basic (Aus) 73 70, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 70 73, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 71 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 72, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 73 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 73
144 Hiroaki Iijima (Jpn) 72 72, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 73, Anthony Kang (USA) 72 72, Namchoak Tantipokakul (Tha) 74 70, Pornsakon Tipsanit (Tha) 75 69, Lam Chih Bing (Sin) 72 72, Mars Pucay (Phi) 71 73, Shinichi Akiba (Jpn) 73 71, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 72 72, Do Kim (Aus) 74 70, Tetsuya Koyama (Jpn) 71 73
145 Eduardo Herrera (Col) 74 71, Chris Roake (Eng) 72 73, Krisada Rangwat (Tha) 74 71, Chaipat Darapanich (Tha) 74 71, Kim Kyung-Tae (Kor) 75 70, Lin Wen-Tang (Tpe) 73 72, Somboon Leelathitikul (Tha) 73 72
146 Sattaya Supupramai (Tha) 71 75, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 75 71, Ally Mellor (Eng) 77 69, Lin Keng-Chi (Tpe) 74 72, David Bransdon (Aus) 75 71, Ross Bain (Sco) 74 72, Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 74 72
147 Yasumasa Suzuki (Jpn) 73 74, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 74 73, Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 72 75, Shinsuke Yanagisawa (Jpn) 73 74, Chris Rodgers (Eng) 76 71
148 Manus Saengsui (Tha) 79 69, Takenori Hiraishi (Jpn) 75 73, Toru Morita (Jpn) 68 80
149 Methee Siripoch (Tha) 72 77, Pol Kemmarat (Tha) 76 73
150 Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 74 76, Soushi Tajima (Jpn) 77 73
151 Siddikur (Ban) 72 79, Tomoo Bise (Jpn) 78 73
153 Chan Yih-Shin (Tpe) 74 79
154 Thanatchan Puektes (Tha) 74 80
155 Nuphan Marpraneet (Tha) 82 73
160 Sirapong Maitreeyeunyong (Tha) 75 85
International at Bangkok
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Finland’s Toni Karjalainen began his rookie year on the Asian Tour strongly when he carded a second round 12-under-par 64 to take over the lead in the Asian Tour International tournament at Suwan Golf & Country Club, Bangkok today.
Overnight leader Marcus Both of Australia is a shot behind after posting a 68 for a 11-under-par 131 total while Japan’s Tetsuji Hiratsuka took third place on 68.
Fellow compatriot, Hirotaro Naito finished with a 66 to take fourth place while Korea’s Ted Oh and India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar are among the eight players bunched together in fifth place on 134.
When play finally resumed after being delayed for approximately 50 minutes due to the heavy morning fog, Karjalainen quickly got off the blocks with birdie-birdie in his opening back-nine.
He continued his birdie blitz on the 17th and 18th before making the turn in 31. The Finn stormed home strongly in his inward run with another three more birdies on the second, sixth and ninth holes to cap a deserving start to his rookie season.
“It has been really good for me so far. I made it through qualifying school and with this being my first tournament on the Asian Tour, things are looking fairly nice at the moment,” said Karjalainen who secured his Asian Tour card by finishing in tied-19th place at Qualifying School.
Meanwhile, Both continued to pile the pressure on the Finn despite not being able to match up to his first round performance.
“I probably didn’t hole as many putts as I did yesterday and there’s still some work to do.,” said Both.
“I need to sharpen up some of the techniques which my coach and I have been working on and I think I should be okay after that,” added the Australian.
Hiratsuka who began the day in second place mixed five birdies and two bogeys to drop one place down to third while fellow compatriot, Naito who is seeking his first professional win on Tour, fired six birdies against a lone bogey on the par-four, 14th to stay in contention for top honours at the US$300,000 full-field Asian Tour event.
“It has been a good day of golf out there and I’m really enjoying myself. I just have to continue to work hard and hopefully, it’ll all come together,” said the 26-year-old Japanese.
After enjoying an impressive run midway through the 2008 season by posting three consecutive top-10 finishes at the Brunei Open, Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational and Mercuries Taiwan Masters, Oh is also among the leaders who are riding on their rich vein of form coming into this event.
“The greens were tough to read but I still made a couple of good drives, especially on the par-fives. I’ve been putting myself into very good positions for birdies over the last two days and I hope to continue doing that,” said the Korean, who recorded two-day round scores of 68 and 66.
Bhullar continued to stake his claim for his maiden Asian Tour title. The Indian got off to a good start with three successive birdies on his starting back-nine and looked poised to grab the lead held by Karjalainen until two costly bogeys on the second and ninth hole ruined his card.
“I didn’t hit the ball that well today. It wasn’t that close to the pins but they were all on the green,” said Bhullar.
“However I think I still played well overall except for my finishing ninth hole which I continued to drop shots yesterday and today,” added the Indian.
Defending champion Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei failed to make the weekend cut after disappointing rounds of 73 and 72.
The cut was set at two-under with a total of 72 players making it to the weekend rounds.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 142 (2 x 71)
130 Toni Karjalainen (FIN) 66-64
131 Marcus Both (Aus) 63 68
132 Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 64 68
133 Hirotaro Naito (Jpn) 67 66
134 Ted Oh (Kor) 68 66, Noh Seung-Yul (Kor) 68 66, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 69 65, Mark Purser (Nzl) 68 66, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 66 68, James Kamte (Rsa) 71 63, Unho Park (Aus) 65 69, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 65 69
135 Michael Light (Aus) 68 67, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 63, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 66 69, Rhys Davies (Wal) 69 66, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 69 66
136 Michio Matsumura (Jpn) 71 65, Bryan Saltus (USA) 72 64, Akinori Tani (Jpn) 70 66, Atthaphon Prathummanee (Tha) 68 68, Mo Joong-Kyung (Kor) 66 70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 66, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 67 69, Gavin Flint (Aus) 67 69, Danny Chia (Mal) 67 69
137 Prom Meesawat (Tha) 69 68, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 68 69, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 71 66, Kim Bi-O (Kor) 69 68, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 71 66, Somkiat Srisanga (Tha) 69 68, Adam Groom (Aus) 67 70
138 Wu Ashun (Chn) 67 71, Darren Beck (Aus) 72 66, Angelo Que (Phi) 71 67, Tim Stewart (Aus) 69 69, Tatsuya Sato (Jpn) 74 64, Nakul Vichitryuthasastr (Tha) 69 69, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 71, S.Siva Chandhran (Mal) 68 70, Kim Hyung-Sung (Kor) 71 67, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 69 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 68, Rory Hie (Ina) 71 67
139 Andrew Marshall (Eng) 70 69, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 68, Tony Carolan (Aus) 71 68, Simon Griffiths (Eng) 68 71, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 72 67, Airil Rizman (Mal) 73 66, Nathan Uebergang (Aus) 70 69, Jason Norris (Aus) 72 67, Rohan Blizard (Aus) 70 69, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 71 68, Kim Hyung-Tae (Kor) 70 69
140 Motoharu Mukai (Jpn) 71 69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 71, Zaw Moe (Mya) 68 72, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 68, Tatsuhiko Ichihara (Jpn) 68 72, Park Jun-Won (Kor) 70 70, Kwanchai Tannin (Tha) 70 70, Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn) 71 69, John Parry (Eng) 73 67, Somchai Pongpaew (Tha) 72 68, Wisut Artjanawat (Tha) 67 73, Lin Wen-Hong (Tpe) 72 68, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71 69, Scott Barr (Aus) 69 71, Young Nam (Kor) 72 68, Nozomi Kawahara (Jpn) 68 72
MISSED THE CUT
141 Scott Hend (Aus) 71 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 72 69, C Muniyappa (Ind) 72 69, Olle Nordberg (Swe) 72 69, Mitchell Brown (Aus) 70 71, Christopher Campbell (Aus) 69 72, James Kruger (Rsa) 72 69
142 Panuwat Muenlek (Tha) 69 73, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 70 72, Andrew Welsford (Aus) 70 72, Choengchai Panpumpo (Tha) 75 67, Will Yanagisawa (USA) 73 69, Lu Wen-Teh (Tpe) 72 70, Wang Ter-Chang (Tpe) 72 70, Lu Wei-Chih (Tpe) 71 71, Ronnachai Jamnong (Tha) 71 71, Pongthep Jaewchumnanchao (Tha) 70 72
143 Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 73 70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 70, Udorn Duangdecha (Tha) 72 71, Varut Chomchalam (Tha) 71 72, Hiroshi Iwata (Jpn) 71 72, Makoto Inoue (Jpn) 73 70, Neven Basic (Aus) 73 70, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 70 73, Taichiro Kiyota (Jpn) 71 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 72, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 73 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 73
144 Hiroaki Iijima (Jpn) 72 72, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 73, Anthony Kang (USA) 72 72, Namchoak Tantipokakul (Tha) 74 70, Pornsakon Tipsanit (Tha) 75 69, Lam Chih Bing (Sin) 72 72, Mars Pucay (Phi) 71 73, Shinichi Akiba (Jpn) 73 71, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 72 72, Do Kim (Aus) 74 70, Tetsuya Koyama (Jpn) 71 73
145 Eduardo Herrera (Col) 74 71, Chris Roake (Eng) 72 73, Krisada Rangwat (Tha) 74 71, Chaipat Darapanich (Tha) 74 71, Kim Kyung-Tae (Kor) 75 70, Lin Wen-Tang (Tpe) 73 72, Somboon Leelathitikul (Tha) 73 72
146 Sattaya Supupramai (Tha) 71 75, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 75 71, Ally Mellor (Eng) 77 69, Lin Keng-Chi (Tpe) 74 72, David Bransdon (Aus) 75 71, Ross Bain (Sco) 74 72, Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 74 72
147 Yasumasa Suzuki (Jpn) 73 74, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 74 73, Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 72 75, Shinsuke Yanagisawa (Jpn) 73 74, Chris Rodgers (Eng) 76 71
148 Manus Saengsui (Tha) 79 69, Takenori Hiraishi (Jpn) 75 73, Toru Morita (Jpn) 68 80
149 Methee Siripoch (Tha) 72 77, Pol Kemmarat (Tha) 76 73
150 Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 74 76, Soushi Tajima (Jpn) 77 73
151 Siddikur (Ban) 72 79, Tomoo Bise (Jpn) 78 73
153 Chan Yih-Shin (Tpe) 74 79
154 Thanatchan Puektes (Tha) 74 80
155 Nuphan Marpraneet (Tha) 82 73
160 Sirapong Maitreeyeunyong (Tha) 75 85
Labels: ASIAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Friday, February 06, 2009
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home