Aussie Fraser leads weather-hit

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Ballantine's Championship

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NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Jeju Island, South Korea: Australia’s Marcus Fraser fired an opening seven-under-par 65 to take the clubhouse lead at the weather-interrupted Ballantine’s Championship today.
Fraser posted a blemish-free round for a single-shot lead over England’s Mark Foster who carded a 66 to take second place at the €2.2 million (approximately US$2.9 million) showpiece that is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and the Korea PGA.
Korea’s Ted Oh returned with a 67 in near darkness to take a share of third place alongside Australia’s Rick Kulacz and Wales’ Jamie Donaldson who are at five-under-par through 17 and 16 holes respectively.
Singapore’s Mardan Mamat posted a 68 to lie in equal eighth together with Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng, Ernie Els of South Africa and American Anthony Kim.

The early starters only managed to play through six holes until play was suspended for close to five hours due to heavy fog that marred visibility at the Pinx Golf Club.
When play finally resumed in the afternoon, Fraser who marked his card with three birdies in his opening four holes, added another two on holes eight and nine to make the turn in 31.
The Australian continued to post another two more birdies on holes 10 and 13 to storm home in 65.
“It was just one of those days where I felt like I did a lot of things right, and managed to make a few putts when I had to. It's nice when the round turns out that way and would be even nicer if you can play like that all the time,” said Fraser.
Oh who is searching for his maiden win on the Asian Tour mixed three birdies, a bogey and an eagle two on the par-four sixth to put him in contention for his career breakthrough.
“I’m playing well. I was playing good all year long but I was struggling on the greens, and then last week, I started putting well and I think that's why I'm scoring better,” said Oh who also credits the presence of his family for his good play.
“I’ve a lot of family with me this week, so I kept myself busy talking to them. If I were to be in somewhere else, I would be just waiting by myself which is kind of hard,” added the California-based Korean on his five-hour long wait at the clubhouse.
Prayad, a six-time Asian Tour winner opened his Korean campaign strongly with four birdies in his opening five holes. The Thai then posted another birdie on the 10th but dropped a shot on the 14th for his lone bogey of the day.
“Apart from my lone bogey on the 14th hole, I think I did quite well with five birdies. I’m looking forward to the second round,” said Prayad who is seeking to end a three-year title drought on the Asian Tour.
“The long wait was okay. Delays happen in golf and it’s a good time for you to reflect and plan your strategy when play resumes,” added the Thai.
Meanwhile Mardan also got his opening round off to a good start with successive birdies in his opening four holes.
The Singaporean dropped a shot on the par-four seventh but quickly recovered with another birdie on the ninth to reach the turn in 32.
Mardan then went on to mix two bogeys against two birdies in his inward-nine
“I started very well with four birdies in a row. I think that really kept me going. The delay affected me a little bit as I wanted to continue playing but overall I’m pleased with how I’ve started,” said Mardan who enjoyed a top-10 finish at the Pinx Golf Club last year.
Play was abandoned at 6.45pm due to darkness. Only a total of 36 players managed to complete their opening rounds while the rest of the field due to resume at 7am on Friday.
COMPLETED ROUNDS SO FAR

Par 72

The first round play has been abandoned for the day due to fading light. There are still 40 groups still to complete
65 Marcus Fraser (Aus)
66 Mark Foster
67 Ted Oh (Kor)
68 Peter Hanson (Swe), Anthony Kim (USA), Ernie Els (Rsa), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Oliver Fisher, Mardan Mamat (Sin)
69 Anthony Wall, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa)
70 Scott Hend (Aus), Ryuichi Oda (Jpn), Richard Finch, Yih-shin Chan (Tpe), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Pablo Martin (Spa)
71 Richard Bland, Hyun-bin Park (Kor), Dong-kyu Jang (Kor), David Howell, Anthony Kang (USA), Stephen Gallacher, Ariel Canete (Arg), Angelo Que (Phi)
73 Joon-eob Son (Kor), Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha), Hyun-woo Ryu (Kor)
74 Graeme McDowell, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa)
75 In-sik Choi (Kor)
78 Chih-bing Lam (Sin)