MICHAEL CHOI SETS PACE AT ONEASIA Q SCHOOL IN MALAYSIA

Choi heads the class at Sabah Q-School

 

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia:- Australian Michael Choi fired a four-under-par 67 on Tuesday to grab a one-shot lead after the opening round of OneAsia's Q-School at Sutera Harbour Golf & Country Club in Sabah, Malaysia. 

Choi, who lost his card after a disappointing rookie season last year, offset five birdies with a lone bogey around the 6,330 metre (6,876 yard) course to nose ahead of Austrian Hamza Amin and New Zealander Nick Gillespie.

With places in the tour's prestigious million-dollar tournaments at stake, nearly 200 players from around the world signed up for Q-School this year. Ten spots went to the top finishers at last week's qualifier at Industry Hills Golf Club in Los Angeles, California, and 14 await the participants at Sutera Harbour. 

"I'm really pleased with the way I played today and hopefully I can continue with this for the next three days," said Choi (right), who finished 19th at Q-School in 2012.

"I played terrible last year. I had full exemption, but just didn't play very well. A lot of the courses I hadn't played before, and everything was all a bit new, so I would definitely like to have another try at it, to get a second shot."

Choi has something of a stormy relationship with the Sutera Harbour course. Needing a par on the 72nd hole to guarantee himself a top 20 place at Q-School last year, he made a double-bogey for a 69, and returned to his hotel room certain he had missed out. 

Instead, the wind picked up and blew the late finishers off track, leaving Choi to graduate. 

The winners of both Q-Schools are guaranteed starts at all OneAsia's tournaments in 2013, while those who finish second and third will likely start most events.

Positions are then accorded proportionally between the Malaysian and U.S. Q-Schools. 

"Getting status is everything," said Pakistan-born Amin after his opening 68 left him in good stead for the rest of the week.

The son of Taimur Hassan, one of Pakistan's most decorated amateur golfers, Amin went to school in his mother's Austrian homeland and only turned pro last year. 

"Getting a card would mean I have a proper schedule, and then I can stick to the process that I have set myself," he said.

Some 15 nationalities were represented at both legs of Q-School and the leaderboard at Sabah was a kaleidoscope of foreign flags with Murillo Wolmer from Venezuala and Canadian Matthew Johnston sharing fourth place at two under. 

OneAsia was founded in 2009 by the China Golf Association, the Korea Golf Tour, the Korea Golf Association and the PGA of Australia.

 It has since doubled in size, and the tour's elite suite of tournaments now includes the national Opens of Australia, China, Korea and Thailand -- as well as numerous other prestigious events.

The first event of the 2013 season will be the U.S.$ 1 million Thailand Open from March 14-17.  The tournament is fully co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organisation with earnings counting for both money lists.

Scores

 

After the first round of OneAsia Q-School (Sabah) played at the  6,440-metre (6,867-yard) par-71 Sutera Harbour Golf & Country Club (* denotes amateur):

 

67 - Michael CHOI (AUS)

68 - Hamza AMIN (AUT), Nick GILLESPIE (NZL) 

69 - Matthew JOHNSTON (CAN), Murillo WOLMER (VEN)

70 - PARK Hyo-won (KOR), KANG Ji-man (KOR), LEE Jung-oh (KOR), Adam SHAW (MAL), PARK Min-jun (KOR) , Blair WILSON (AUS)

71 - KIM Young-kyu (KOR), SONG Jin-oh (KOR), LEE Hoon-heui (KOR), Daniel FOX (AUS) , SEO Jeoung-min (KOR) , Akinori TANI (JPN), LIM Seung-eun (KOR), KIM Yeun-sub (KOR)

72 - Henry EPSTEIN (AUS) , KIM Hyung-tae 837 (KOR)  , Darren GRIFF (CAN), LEE Ji-hoon (KOR), KIM Jin-kyung (KOR), Edward REYES (PHI), PARK Sang-wook (KOR), PARK Sung-hyuk (KOR), Brendan SMITH (AUS) 

73 - CHOI Bo-kyu (KOR), CHO Hong-ryul (KOR), KWON Hyuk-koan (KOR), KIM Hyun-il (KOR), LEE Jeong-woo (KOR), PARK Jin-seon (KOR), PARK Jin-woo (KOR), KIM Jun-kyum (KOR), CHAN Shih-chang (TPE), KIM Min-jun (KOR), Richard T LEE (CAN), HUANG Tao (TPE) 

74 - KIM Tae-hoon (KOR), WON Doo-kyun (KOR), SHIN Hyuk-chul (KOR) , PARK Il-hwan (KOR) , KIM Ji-hoon (KOR), Jun AN (KOR), Lindsay Michael RENOLDS (CAN), Taichi NABETANI (JPN), LEE Seung-chul (KOR), Tim WOOD (AUS) , KIM Sin-kwan (KOR) , Daniel VALENTE (AUS)

75 - Nabil ABDUL (AUS), CHAE Bum-geun (KOR) , PARK Chan-joon (KOR), HA Chung-hoon (KOR), LEE Dae-jun (KOR), PARK Gun-woo (KOR), Fumihiro EBINE (JPN), CHOI Jin-gyu (AM) (KOR), Brent McCULLOUGH (AUS)  , KWON Sung-youl (KOR) , MOON Tae-yang (KOR), KIM Young-bon (KOR)

76 - PARK Chan-kyu (KOR), Daniel BRINGOLF (AM) (AUS), LEE Dong-hoon (AM) (KOR), YU Gyoung-yoon (KOR) , CHOI Seong-Jin (KOR) , LEE Jun-Hyuk (KOR), NOH Kyung-rok (KOR), Ian SONG (KOR)

77 - Rika BATIBASAGA (AUS), CHO Eun-seol (KOR), KIM Dong-hyeon (KOR), Andrew COOPER* (AUS), Richard LEE (NZL),  PARK Jun-sub (KOR), LIN Kuan-po (TPE), JUNG Taek-lim (KOR)

78 - LEE Jae-hyeok (KOR), HAN Jee-hoon (AM) (KOR), Stephen LINDSKOG (SWE), LIM Jong-ho (KOR), KIM Min-gu (AM) (KOR), KONG Yoon-sik (KOR), JEOUNG Sung-hun (KOR), KIM Woo-hyun (KOR)

79 - MUN Do-yeob (KOR), A J MANDANI (USA), JI Kwang-suk (KOR), BAEK Seung-min (KOR), YOO Sung-yong (KOR), JIN Young-gab (KOR) 

80 - Ellar CHEN (TPE), Do-eun AN (AUS)

81 - LEE Dae-han (AM) (KOR), KIM Ki-soo (KOR),  SHIN Yong-bu (KOR)

82 - HONG Ju-hyeong * (KOR), CHAE Sung-duk (KOR), KIM Tae-woo (KOR)

84 - Franjo BLAZEVIC (AUS), KIM Ki-hwan (KOR)

87 - HO Ka-lok (HK), JUNG Joon-ki (KOR)

93 - PARK Kyung-chan (KOR)

94 - Brenton BLANK (AUS)

 

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