DUTCHMAN DERKSEN SETS PACE WITH A 66 IN VOLVO CHINA OPEN

REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Robert-Jan Derksen staged a remarkable return to form with a round of 66 on the opening day of the Volvo China Open, which he leads by two shots.

The Dutchman has gone more than two years without recording a top ten finish on The European Tour, but mixed eight birdies with two bogeys to finish a windswept first day at Binhai Lake Golf Club, in Tianjin, on six under par.

Derksen’s last Tour title came eight years ago, at the Madeira Islands Open, and he finished outside the top 100 in The Race to Dubai for the first time in a decade last season.

But after dropping shots at the third and fourth holes, Derksen battled back valiantly with a trio of birdies to reach the turn in 34. Having collected another shot at the tenth hole, he promptly pitched to eight feet at the 12^th to reach the four under par clubhouse target set by the morning start, Thai ace Kiradech Aphibarnrat and in-form Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin. 

A tee shot to six feet at the 16^th hole handed Derksen the outright lead, and a further birdie at the last extended his advantage to two shots.

The 39 year old said: “It was a funny day, because I started well with a birdie from about five feet, but then three-putted the third and fourth and ended up in three divots on the fairways later in the round.

“But I made a lot of birdies, and I’ve ended the day in a really good position. The wind was difficult to judge, even on the greens. But I started making a few putts and my confidence lifted.”

One man whose confidence is already sky high is Brett Rumford, who built on his victory at last week’s Ballantine’s Championship with a round of 68 to join Aphibarnrat and Jacquelin in a tie for third place on four under par.

Among the group of players one shot back on three under par is Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, who carded four birdies and a solitary bogey.    

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD CHINESE BOY BECOMES YOUNGEST PLAYER IN EUROPEAN TOUR HISTORY

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
Twelve-year-old Ye Wo-cheng had to settle for a round of 79 as he became the youngest player in European Tour history in the Volvo China Open today.

But 16-year-old Chinese compatriot Dou Ze-cheng carded a two-under-par 70 at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin to lie just two shots off the early clubhouse lead shared by France's Raphael Jacquelin and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Ye is just 12 years and 242 days old and almost a year younger than the previous record holder Guan Tianlang, who famously made the cut at the Masters last month aged 14 and was 13 years and 177 days old when he played in the same event last year.

Guan missed the cut 12 months ago with rounds of 77 and 79 and Ye looks set to suffer the same fate after carding eight bogeys and just one birdie in his round.

Starting from the 10th, Ye opened with three pars before recovering from his first bogey on the 13th with a birdie on the next, while further dropped shots at the 16th and 17th took him to the turn in 38.

It was harder work on the back nine however, with five bogeys and four pars leaving him in a tie for 146th place midway through the first round.

Dou, who like Ye earned his place in the field after coming through qualifying events, had four birdies and two bogeys in his round of 70.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par  72. Yardage 7,667 

66 Robert-Jan DERKSEN (NED).

68 Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA), Raphael JACQUELIN (FRA), Brett RUMFORD (AUS).

69 PARK Sang-hyun (KOR), Aaron TOWNSEND (AUS), Mikko ILONEN (FIN), Lee SLATTERY (ENG), Terry PILKADARIS (AUS), Paul LAWRIE (SCO).

70 Garrett SAPP (USA), Mark FOSTER (ENG), DOU Ze-cheng (am, CHN), Stephen GALLACHER (SCO), YAN Bin (CHN), Alexander NOREN (SWE), Thomas BJORN (DEN), Alvaro QUIROS (ESP), Estanislao GOYA (ARG), S S P CHOWRASIA (IND), Ricardo SANTOS (POR), Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS), Matthew BALDWIN (ENG), Graeme STORM (ENG), LEE Hyung-joon (KOR).

71 Richie RAMSAY (SCO), Chris LLOYD (ENG), Paul CASEY (ENG), Victor DUBUISSON (FRA), Richard FINCH (ENG), Magnus A CARLSSON (SWE), Jamie ARNOLD (AUS), KIM Dae-sub (KOR), Markus BRIER (AUT), Felipe AGUILAR (CHI), Julien QUESNE (FRA), Pablo LARRAZABAL (ESP), Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG), Fabrizio ZANOTTI (PAR).

72 KONG Wei-hai (CHN), Andreas HARTO (DEN), Moritz LAMPERT (GER), Jeev Milkha SINGH (IND), David DRYSDALE (SCO), Lorenzo GAGLI (ITA), HE Shao-cai (CHN), Michael HOEY (NIR), Justin WALTERS (RSA), Nick CULLEN (AUS), Rafael CABRERA- BELLO (ESP), JOO Heung-chol (KOR), Paul WARING (ENG), Soren KJELDSEN (DEN), Gregory HAVRET (FRA), Andrew DODT (AUS), Richard BLAND (ENG), Soren HANSEN (DEN).

73 Jose Manuel LARA (ESP), Scott STRANGE (AUS), Scott JAMIESON (SCO), Keith HORNE (RSA), ZHANG Lian-wei (CHN), Steve WEBSTER (ENG), Simon WAKEFIELD (ENG), Peter WHITEFORD (SCO), Ricardo GONZALEZ (ARG), Damien McGRANE (IRL), Jorge CAMPILLO (ESP), RYU Hyun-woo (KOR), Rory HIE (INA), Joost LUITEN (NED), Emiliano GRILLO (ARG), AN Byeong-hun (KOR), Johan EDFORS (SWE), Craig LEE (SCO), JB HANSEN (DEN), Niclas FASTH (SWE), James MORRISON (ENG), SU Dong (CHN).

74 Andy SULLIVAN (ENG), Jean-Baptiste GONNET (FRA), Andre STOLZ (AUS), Kristoffer BROBERG (SWE), Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND), Joel SJOHOLM (SWE), Oliver FISHER (ENG), HSIEH Chi-hsien (TPE), Marcus FRASER (AUS), Branden GRACE (RSA), LIANG Wen-chong (CHN), Michael HENDRY (NZL), David HOWELL (ENG), HU Mu (CHN), HUANG Wen-yi (CHN), Eduardo DE LA RIVA (ESP).

75 Espen KOFSTAD (NOR), Chris DOAK (SCO), Christian CEVAER (FRA), Daniel POPOVIC (AUS), Eric MINA (USA), Jbe KRUGER (RSA), Peter LAWRIE (IRL), Edoardo MOLINARI (ITA), Gareth PADDISON (NZL), Marc WARREN (SCO), Mark BROWN (NZL), Akinori TANI (JPN), HE Ze-Yu (CHN), Maarten LAFEBER (NED), Michael WRIGHT (AUS), ZHANG Xin-jun (CHN), Eddie PEPPERELL (ENG), Alessandro TADINI (ITA).

76 Prom MEESAWAT (THA), ZHOU Guo-wu (CHN), Paul McGINLEY (IRL), Robert COLES (ENG), Peter EROFEJEFF (FIN), Chris PAISLEY (ENG), Gareth MAYBIN (NIR), LI Hao-tong (CHN), Phillip PRICE (WAL), Anthony BROWN (AUS), Gary LOCKERBIE (ENG).

77 Ignacio GARRIDO (ESP), Scott LAYCOCK (AUS), WU Ashun (CHN), CHOI Ho-sung (KOR), Jim LIU (USA) (am), John PARRY (ENG), JIN Cheng (am, CHN).

78 Wolmer MURILLO (VEN), Oscar FLOREN (SWE), Maximilian KIEFFER (GER), CAO Yi (CHN), OUYANG Zheng (CHN), Martin WIEGELE (AUT), JIN Da-xing (CHN), Peter HEDBLOM (SWE).

79 YE Wo-cheng (am, CHN), YUAN Tian (CHN), FAN Zhi-peng (CHN), JIA Jun-feng (CHN), Fredrik ANDERSSON HED (SWE), Thomas AIKEN (RSA).

80 LUO Xue-wen (am, CHN), YUAN Hao (CHN), Scott HENRY (SCO).

81 ZHAO Xiong-yi (CHN), LIU Yan-wei (am, CHN), WU Hong-fu (CHN), CHEN Zi-hao (am, CHN).

83 LI Xin-yang (CHN), BAI Zheng-kai (am, CHN), Ren HAN (CHN).

84 WU Wei-huang (CHN).

 

About OneAsia
OneAsia is a non-profit organisation developed to maximize tournament opportunities for the best players in the Asia-Pacific region. The founding members of OneAsia are the China Golf Association, the Korea Golf Tour, the Korea Golf Association and the PGA of Australia. Our elite suite of tournaments includes the national Opens of Australia, China, Korea and Thailand, as well as numerous other prestigious events.