Jakarta: Rookie Gavin Green of Malaysia bounced back from a
disappointing defeat by taking the opening round lead at the Ciputra
Golfpreneur Tournament on Wednesday.
The
21-year-old blew a five-shot lead on home soil a fortnight ago but
showed no signs of a hangover as he fired a seven-under-par 65 to lead
by one shot at the US$100,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.
Gyeongjun
Lee of Korea, Mitchell Slorach of Singapore, Sutijet Kooratanapisa of
Thailand, Jordan Sherratt of Australia and Jarin Todd of the United
States were bunched up in second place on 66s.
Defending
champion James Byrne from Banchory, Danny Chia of Malaysia and Danthai
Boonma of Thailand were a further shot back in tied seventh place at the
Damai Indah Golf, BSD course.
Green’s
defeat two weeks ago was a bitter pill to swallow but he hopes to
recover and use the experience in his advantage as he hunts for a first
professional win. He won on the ADT last year as an amateur.
“It
was an experience two weeks ago. It is obviously hard to forget but I
will use it as a good learning experience. I need to learn from my
mistakes and see what I’ve done wrong to try and improve,” said
Green.
“I
found something small in my game which helps me be more consistent. I’m
swinging it a little bit easier and letting the club do what it is
supposed to do. That’s helped my score today,” explained the Malaysian,
who works with Chris O’Connell, who is also the coach of Matt Kuchar.
He got off to a hot start when he turned in 31 which included a six-foot eagle-three on the 18th hole. He traded four more birdies against two bogeys on his homeward nine to lead the chasing pack.
“I
started quite solid and the momentum built up. I hit 17 greens today so
I was confident with my game. I didn’t make any big mistakes and my two
bogeys were a result of being in between clubs and a three
putt,” he said.
Since
it was inaugurated in 2010, the ADT has grown from five events in the
first year to 21 tournaments in 2014. A record 25 tournaments has been
confirmed for the 2015 season.
The ADT will continue to reward the top-five finishers on the final Order of Merit with Asian Tour cards for 2016.
Leading first round scores:
65 - Gavin GREEN (MAS)
66 - Gyeongjun LEE (KOR) , Mitchell SLORACH (SIN) , Sutijet KOORATANAPISAN (THA) , Jordan SHERRATT (AUS) , Jarin TODD (USA)
67 - Danthai BOONMA (THA) , James BYRNE (SCO) , Danny CHIA (MAS)
68 - Panuwat MUENLEK (THA) , Blake SNYDER (USA) , Jake STIRLING (AUS) , Sejun YOON (USA) , Oskar ARVIDSSON (SWE)
69
- Thammanoon SRIROJ (THA) , Scott BARR (AUS) , Mathiam KEYSER (RSA) ,
Brett MUNSON (USA) , Darren TAN (AUS) , LAM Chih Bing (SIN)
70
- Michael TRAN (VIE) , Micah Lauren SHIN (USA) , Poom SAKSANSIN (THA) ,
Mardan MAMAT (SIN) , Jack MUNRO (AUS) , Mithun PERERA (SRI) , Casey
O'TOOLE (USA) , Himmat RAI (IND) , Lindsay RENOLDS
(CAN) , Grant JACKSON (ENG) , Phachara KHONGWATMAI (THA) , Tirto
TAMARDI (A) (INA) , Rudi ANTO (INA) , Tirawat KAEWSIRIBANDIT (THA) , LEE
Chieh-po (TPE) , Chanat SAKULPOLPHAISAN (THA) , CHOO Tze Huang (SIN)
71
- Pijit PETCHKASEM (THA) , Donlaphatchai NIYOMCHON (THA) , Asep CAPRIE
(INA) , Atthaphon SRIBOONKAEW (THA) , Rory HIE (INA) , Fajar Win
NURYANTO (INA) , Zaw MOE (MYN) , Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI
(THA) , Annop TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) , KOH Deng Shan (SIN) , Rinaldi
ADIYANDONO (INA) , Poosit SUPUPRAMAI (THA) , Nirun SAE-UENG (THA) , Josh
SALAH (USA)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home