NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR
Chonburi,
Thailand: Germany’s Alex Cejka fired a magnificent
eight-under-par 64 to lead by one shot from world number four Justin
Rose of England and local hope Arnond Vongvanij after the first round of
the Thailand Golf Championship today.
The
widely-travelled Cejka, who has 10 career wins but not since 2002, was
in irrepressible form at the Amata Spring Country Club, firing eight
birdies for an unblemished card in the US$1 million full-field Asian
Tour tournament.
Reigning
U.S. Open champion Rose marked his debut in the star-laden event with a
65 which was matched by Arnond, who fired nine birdies against two
bogeys on a day of low scoring.
India’s
Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a 66 for fourth place while Swede Daniel
Chopra enjoyed five birdies in a row en route to a 67. Title holder
Charl Schwartzel of South Africa signed for a 68, as did Spanish Ryder
Cup star Sergio Garcia, Singaporean veteran Mardan Mamat and India’s
Sujjan Singh.
World No. 3 Henrik Stenson of Sweden, 2012 Masters Tournament champion
Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler of the United States opened their
campaigns with matching 70s in the tournament featuring eight players
from the world’s top-10 and offering a whopping 38 Official World Golf
Ranking points to the winner.
The
43-year-old Cejka was delighted to upstage the stars on his first
wedding anniversary with his wife, Alyssa. “Nice to shoot a good score
on a good day,” said the German, who got married on the Thai holiday
isle of Phuket.
“Last week I played a little bit better (finishing tied 12th
in Hong Kong), and so far the form continues. We've got three more days
to go. I feel good. Nothing's easy. It's a great field and it's a
challenging course where you can shoot five-under but you can also shoot
six-over here if you don't drive it well or if you're a little bit
unlucky.
“You've
got to keep grinding. I cannot sit back and just play for pars. I've
got to just play the same golf I've been playing, and hopefully I make a
couple putts or I don't make stupid mistakes. It's a long way to go and
again, there're a lot of great players in the field.”
Rose
was in total control of his game as he kept the bogeys off the card,
sinking seven birdies to set the pace in the morning before Cejka’s
fireworks in the afternoon session.
“It
was an early alarm call this morning at 4.30. Didn't enjoy that part
but once I got out here to the golf course it was a perfect morning for
golf, and the type of morning you wanted to capitalise on,” said Rose,
who has enjoyed 11 other top-10s around the world to go with his Major
triumph.
“I
feel like I'm reading the greens well. The greens are rolling true. I
feel like I've got a good eye, good read for the greens, so that helps.
Obviously, I got off to a great start. Who knows what the winning score
will be, but you've just got to play one shot at a time, one hole at a
time
“My
putting felt very sharp, especially for the first 12 or 13 holes. But
also, you have to stay out of the rough. If you do hit the driver
poorly, you are going to struggle,” he added.
Playing
on his home course, the pint-sized Arnond outscored his playing
partners Garcia and Fowler with a hot putter, needing only 23 putts.
“Just from being out here quite a bit, I know what the green does,” said
Arnond, who turns 25 on Sunday.
“The
last few weeks I've been rolling the putter well but I haven’t pieced
it all together. Some weeks I will hit it well and it will not go in and
it's been frustrating. I'm happy to see it finally come together.”
Bhullar,
who won the Indonesia Open for his fifth Asian Tour title two weeks
ago, used a strong driving display where he hit all but one fairway en
route to seven birdies against a lone bogey. It was his best round at
Amata Spring after finishing 58th and 31st in the first two editions of the Thailand Golf Championship.
“This
is the first time I'm enjoying a bit of the low 60s. There was a margin
of improvement but three more days to work on, and I think it's a great
opportunity for the Asian Tour players to compete against the big
names,” said the 25-year-old, who is currently fourth on the Asian
Tour’s Order of Merit.
“It was a steady round. I hit about 15 greens in
regulation and drove the ball really good.”
The
dashing Bhullar has had a topsy turvy run of form of late. After
finishing last at the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf in Australia, he went
on to win in Indonesia in the following week and then missed the
halfway cut at the Hong Kong Open last week.
“I'm due for a good week,” he smiled. “(But) I'm glad that this is the last tournament of the season. This is my 13th straight event. I'm just dying to board the aircraft which is to New Delhi back home.”
An
in-form Schwartzel, who has won once and enjoyed two other top-10s in
his last three starts, was disappointed he dropped two shots with
three-putt bogeys.
“Yeah,
felt like I hit the ball pretty decent. Just the putting let me down.
But those are not major problems. I've been putting well for quite a
long time. If I can keep hitting the ball decent and give myself
chances, go work on the putting a bit, it's a decent start. It's in red
numbers and it's a long way to go,” said the world number 17.
FIRST-ROUND LEADERS
Amata Spring CC course
Par 72. Yardage: 7,488
64 Alex CEJKA (GER).
65 Justin ROSE (ENG), Arnond VONGVANIJ (THA).
66 Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND).
67 Daniel CHOPRA (SWE).
68 Charl SCHWARTZEL (RSA), Sergio GARCIA (ESP), Mardan MAMAT (SIN), Sujjan SINGH (IND).
69 Marcus FRASER (AUS), Thammanoon SRIROJ (THA), Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA), Angelo QUE (PHI), Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN).
70 Elias BERTHEUSSEN (NOR), Antonio LASCUNA (PHI), Rickie FOWLER (USA),
Henrik STENSON (SWE), Bubba WATSON (USA), Alexander LEVY (FRA), Namchok
TANTIPOKHAKUL (THA).
71 Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA), Hunter MAHAN (USA), Mars PUCAY (PHI),
Thongchai JAIDEE (THA), Panuphol PITTAYARAT (THA), Wade ORMSBY (AUS),
Marcus BOTH (AUS), C. MUNIYAPPA (IND), Prom MEESAWAT (THA), Jaakko
MAKITALO (FIN), Lionel WEBER (FRA), Steve LEWTON (ENG), Anirban LAHIRI
(IND), Jason KNUTZON (USA), Chawalit PLAPHOL (THA), Mithun PERERA (SRI),
HUNG Chien-yao (TPE).
SELECTED SCORES
73 John Daly (US) (T53)
74 Rhys Enoch (Wales), Simon Yates (Scotland) (T70)
77 Peter Richardson (England) (T109)
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Labels: ASIAN TOUR