GRANT JACKSON ONE OFF THE PACE IN BALLANTINE'S TAIWAN CHSHIP

Taipei: Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Chi-hsien delighted the home crowd when he fired a six-under-par 66 to seize the second round lead at the Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship on Friday.

  The local prospect coloured his card with two bogeys, two eagles and four birdies to head into the weekend rounds with a two-day total of six-under-par 138, holding a one-shot lead over England’s Grant Jackson at the  S$110,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event which is the richest on the Schedule.

Jackson kept up his chase for his maiden ADT win when he returned with a 67 to take second place while overnight leader Park Il-kook of Korea slipped to tied-third with Canada’s Lindsay Renolds on identical 140s at the National Garden Golf Course in Taipei.

Starting his round two shots back of Park in tied-sixth, Hsieh quickly made his move with two birdies in his first four holes. He eagled the 16^th before completing his outward-nine with another birdie on the par-four 18^th.

Hsieh then stumbled with two successive bogeys on the first and second holes after the turn. He redeemed himself with another eagle-three on the third hole before reeling in his fourth birdie on the seventh hole for a 66.

“I was really doing very well in my back-nine and I was gaining lots of confidence. But I slipped up after the turn with two bogeys,” said Hsieh.

“It was hard and I was nervous. But I told myself that I’ve to continue my focus and fortunately I picked myself up with another eagle and a birdie, Overall, it was a great day for me,” added the Chinese Taipei player.

The Ballantine’s Taiwan Championship is set to showcase the region’s aspiring professionals on the ADT, which recently received a massive boost when it was awarded Official World Golf Ranking status from 2013 onwards.

With golf returning to the Olympics in 2016, the ADT will become a platform for emerging players from across Asia to have the opportunity to play their way to Rio De Janeiro.

From next season, all winners of ADT events will receive a minimum of six World Ranking points while the top-six players and ties will earn points based on a sliding scale.

Launched in 2010 with the aim of creating a career pathway for professional golfers in Asia, a record total of 12 events will be played this season with the top three finishers on the Order of Merit earning Asian Tour cards for 2013.

 

For more information on the ADT, please visit www.asiandevelopmenttour.com.

 

Leading second round scores

138      HSIEH Chi-hsien (TPE) 72-66

139      Grant JACKSON (ENG) 72-67

140      Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 72-68, PARK Il-kook (KOR) 70-70

141      HUNG Chien-yao (TPE) 73-68, HSU Mong-nan (TPE) 72-69, LIN Wen-hong (TPE)73-68

142      LEE Yi-cheng (Taipei) 74-68, SUNG Mao-chang (TPE)72-70, Tommy MANSUWAN (THA) 72-70, LIEN Lu-sen (TPE)71-71, LEE Yoo-ho (KOR)75-67