Thursday, September 30, 2010

Karmis leads Taiwan Masters

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY ASIAN TOUR
Taipei, September 30: South Africa ’s Peter Karmis continued his rich vein of form by taking the opening lead at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters today.
On a day of tough scoring conditions, the diminutive Karmis, who won his maiden Asian Tour title in Singapore earlier this month, was one of four players to break par with a two-under-par 70 at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club.
Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Thailand, Malaysia ’s Iain Steel and Chinese Taipei’s Chen Tsang-te battled to a 71 at the US$500,000 Asian Tour event where rain and strong wind made life difficult for players.
Lu Wei-chih, also of Chinese Taipei and former Mercuries Taiwan Masters champion in 2005, closed with a 72 to take a share of fifth place with countryman Lin Keng-chi, Prom Meesawat of Thailand and Filipino Mars Pucay.
Title holder Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei was bunched up in tied ninth position on 73 while Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Min-nan posted a 76 to give himself a chance of becoming the oldest player on the Asian Tour to make the halfway cut at the age of 70 years and 51 days old.
Karmis, who started on the back nine, made the turn in 37 before shooting birdies on holes three, six and eight where he sank a huge 40 feet putt from the edge of the green.
“It was very tough out there and you were coming out of the rough all day and it is difficult for guys like me to hit it on the green. I played well on my back nine because I hit a lot of fairways,” said the 29-year-old.
He admitted that his confidence is soaring following his victory at the Handa Singapore Classic.
“I’m playing with a lot of confidence after my victory in Singapore . I played well in all the tournaments after my win and my game has been good from my driving to my putting,” said Karmis who finished in tied 12th place at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taipei two weeks ago.
Malaysian Steel, who finished third in Taipei two weeks ago, got off to bright start when he birdied the first hole after his eight iron approach landed three feet from the hole. He made the turn in 36 and was disappointed not to take a share of the lead after a bogey on the last hole.
“It was hard today. I don’t know how the conditions were in the morning but it couldn’t be any better. I hit the ball solid off the tee and that kept me in play and when I missed the green I would get up-and-down,” said the 39-year-old.
“I didn’t think scores would be that great. I thought maybe one guy would go to four or five-under but that didn’t happen which is good,” added the Malaysian.
FIRST ROUND LEADERS
Par 72
70 Peter Karmis (RSA)
71 Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA), Iain Steel (MAS), Chen Tsang-te (TPE)

72 Lu Wei-chih (TPE), Lin Keng-chi (TPE), Mars Pucay (PHI), Prom Meesawat (THA)

73 David Johnson (USA), Tsai Chi-huang (TPE), Angelo Que (PHI), S. Sivachandran (MAS), Lin Wen-Tang (TPE), Sattaya Supupramai (THA), Udorn Duangdecha (THA), Atthaphon Prathummanee (THA), Adam Blyth (AUS)

74 Lee Sung (KOR), Weng Young-tien (TPE), Panuwat Muenlek (THA)
Selected other scores;
75 David Glesson (Australia).
77 Chris Rodgers (England.
78 Brad Smith (Australia), Simon Griffiths (England).
79 Rohan Blizard (Australia), Gavin Flint (Australia), Petere Cooke (Australia).
81 Ross Bain (Scotland).

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