Three share lead on 65 in Mauritius Open
“We
were battling out there. It wasn’t easy, it was very, very windy and it
started raining and it stopped raining and then it started raining
again. It was more
tiring than a normal day. I was feeling it towards the end but somehow
it came together where I made a few putts,” he said
Domaine
de Bel Ombre, Mauritius: Korean teenager Jeunghun Wang, who has
not missed the cut in his last 21 starts on the Asian Tour, shared the
first round lead with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Spaniard
Carlos Pigem after jointly establishing a new course record of
six-under-par 65 at the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open today.
The
talented Olesen, who has been out for three months following a hand
surgery, mixed eight birdies with two bogeys at the magnificent Heritage
Golf Club in the morning before his effort was matched later
in the day by Wang, who was bogey-free and Pigem.
The trio lead by a shot from South Africa’s Oliver Bekker and Terry Pilkadaris of Australia in the
€1
million (approximately US$1.1 million) tournament, which is the first
ever to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian, European and Sunshine Tours.
India’s Rahil Gangjee, who is half Mauritian, and Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat were amongst those bunched on 67.
The
19-year-old Wang, only one of two players who produced bogey-free
cards, overcame windy and rainy conditions to surge up the leaderboard
as he chases a maiden Tour victory.
“I’m
so happy with my score. The wind was so strong and the rain was very
hard. I’m happy that I played like this and my putter was pretty nice
today,” said Wang, whose made-cut streak began since the end
of 2013.
“I’m
enjoying my week in Mauritius. The weather wasn’t nice but I want to
keep my golf going like this. I didn’t think I could play a score like
this. I got lucky. I got into trouble a few times but made a
few good putts for par.”
Olesen,
a two-time European Tour winner, got out of the blocks quickly with
four birdies in his first five holes – the first from 40 feet – and
picked up further gains at the 16th and 18th holes – either side
of a dropped shot on the 17th hole – for an outward 31.
Another bogey
followed on the first, but Olesen birdied the fifth and completed his
scoring with a 10-footer on the seventh hole.
“We
had perfect conditions on the front nine and I played well on the front
nine, then it started getting tricky on the back nine,” said the
25-year-old. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this – three months
to play a competition round, so I was excited to get out there this
morning. We had great conditions and I hit a lot of great putts, so it
was fun.”
Pigem,
an Asian Tour regular, was delighted with his opening round’s effort.
“This is a lovely place. When I arrived I said ‘this is paradise, I have
to play well’ so I’m glad I did,” said the 24-year-old.
“It’s
my target to be on the European Tour in the future and I know if I work
hard I will be, but right now I’m enjoying it in Asia and learning a
lot.”
Pint-size
Gangjee birdied three of his last five holes to give himself a shot of
winning in his mother’s home land and a first title in 11 years
following his lone Asian Tour triumph in 2004.
FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 71
65 T Olesen (Den) , J Wang (SKor) , C Pigem (Esp)
66 O Bekker (RSA) , T Pilkadaris (Aus)
67
P Pittayarat (Tha) , J Parry (Eng) , D Woltman (USA) , R Gangjee (Ind) ,
J Walters (RSA) , M Muthiya (Zam) , D Burmester (RSA) , N Holman
(Aus)
68 C Del Moral (Esp) , R Karlberg (Swe) , K Phelan (Irl) , A McArthur
(Sco) , P Edberg (Swe) , M Kawamura (Jpn) , B Virto Astudillo (Esp) , M
Fitzpatrick (Eng) , M Lundberg (Swe)
69 C Nel (RSA), T Aiken (RSA), R Cairns (Zim) , S Barr (Aus) , J
Janewattananond (Tha) , S Brazel (Aus) , P Peterson (USA) , T Khrongpha
(Tha) , M Mamat (Sin)
70 R McGowan (Eng) , B Evans (Eng) , J Roos (RSA) , N Schietekat (RSA) ,
E Goya (Arg) , S Lewton (Eng) , S Supupramai (Tha) , J Lagergren (Swe) ,
D Chopra (Swe) , G Coetzee (RSA) , J Hahn (USA) , C Hung (Tpe) , K
Horne (RSA) , P Oriol (Esp)
71
S Kapur (Ind) , J Garcia Pinto (Esp) , J Knutzon (USA) , B Ritthammer
(Ger) , M Bremner (RSA) , T Wiratchant (Tha) , A Tadini (Ita) , V Riu
(Fra) , J Carlsson (Swe) , A Groom (Aus) , C Bouniol (Fra), C Basson
(RSA), J Scrivener (Aus) , J Palmer (Eng) , W Coetsee (RSA) , S Rahman
(Ban) , E De La Riva (Esp) ,
72
M Perera (Sri) , A Da Silva (Bra) , A Dodt (Aus) , R Lee (Can) , C
Phadungsil (Tha) , G Bhullar (Ind) , J Ahlers (RSA) , J Colomo (Esp) ,
M Both (Aus), J Kruger (RSA), R McEvoy (Eng) , U Park (Aus) , D
Basson (RSA) , C Paisley (Eng) , S Hansen (Den) , M Orrin (Eng) , T
Levet (Fra) , B Henson (USA) , S Hend (Aus) , P Martin Benavides (Esp) ,
L Bax (am) (Mus) ,
73
R Khan (Ind) , E Taylor (RSA) , T Van Der Walt (RSA) , L Jensen (Den) ,
A Pavan (Ita) , R Lupini (RSA) , A Atwal (Ind) , D Van Tonder (RSA) , J
Hugo (RSA) , K Richardson (Aus) , J Harding (RSA), C Lloyd (Eng), A
Marshall (Eng) , D Van Den Heever (RSA) , A Velasco (Esp) , U Van Den
Berg (RSA)
74
B Easton (RSA) , R Santos (Por) , L De Jager (RSA) , T Ryan (RSA) , S
Norris (RSA) , J Blaauw (RSA) , R Wannasrichan (Tha) , J Edfors (Swe)
, J Higginbottom (Aus) , T Bjørn (Den) ,
75
E Van Rooyen (RSA) , V Groenewald (RSA) , T Thimba Jnr (RSA) , T Moore
(RSA) , N Dougherty (Eng) , P Meesawat (Tha) , R Van Der Spuy (RSA) , L
Weber (Fra) ,
76 D Petersen (RSA) , M Rominger (Sui) , H Porteous (RSA) , N Tantipokhakul (Tha) , D Frittelli (RSA) ,
77 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) , L Rowe (RSA) , G Tian-Lang (Chn) ,
78 P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) , P Maddy (Eng) ,
79 B Stow (Eng) ,
80 H Otto (RSA) ,
81 A Vongvanij (Tha) , S Smith (Bot) ,
82 A Curlewis (RSA) ,
|
65 - Thorbjorn OLESEN (DEN) , Jeunghun WANG (SKOR) , Carlos PIGEM (ESP)
66 - Oliver BEKKER (RSA) , Terry PILKADARIS (AUS)
67 -
Madalitso MUTHIYA (ZAM) , Daniel WOLTMAN (USA) , Dean BURMESTER (RSA) ,
John PARRY (ENG) , Rahil GANGJEE (IND) , Justin WALTERS (RSA) , Panuphol
PITTAYARAT (THA) , Nathan HOLMAN (AUS)
68
- Carlos DEL MORAL (ESP) , Borja VIRTO ASTUDILLO (ESP) , Matthew
FITZPATRICK (ENG) , Andrew McARTHUR (SCO) , Pelle EDBERG (SWE) ,
Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) , Mikael LUNDBERG (SWE) , Kevin PHELAN (IRL) ,
Rikard
KARLBERG (SWE)
69
- Ryan CAIRNS (ZIM) , Sam BRAZEL (AUS) , Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) ,
Paul PETERSON (USA) , Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) , Mardan MAMAT (SIN) ,
Colin NEL (RSA) , Scott BARR (AUS) , Thomas AIKEN (RSA)
For more information on the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open:
Labels: PRO GOLF
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