Chawalit holds first round clubhouse lead

Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol enjoyed a blemish free round and took the clubhouse lead after a six-under-par 65 at the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open on Thursday.

Chawalit, 32, led the way with six birdies and was followed closely by Finland’s Mikko Ilonen who was a stroke adrift at the Damai Indah Golf and Country Club. India’s Shiv Kapur, the 2005 Asian Tour’s Rookie of the Year, bounced back from a disappointing run last week when he blasted five birdies against a lone bogey in tied third alongside Mads Vibe-Hastrup of Denmark who carded a 67 at the Asian and European Tour co-sanctioned event.

Korean young gun Park Jun-won had a good day on course as he was four under after 12 holes but his steady progress came to a halt when play was suspended due to lightning at 5pm. At that time, there were a total of 36 players yet to complete their rounds. The first round will resume at 6:40am on Friday.

Enjoying the calm before the storm in the early morning, Chawalit, who is ranked 19th on the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, chalked up a birdie on the fifth hole and fired two straight birdies on the seventh and eighth holes. He scored two more birdies on the 13th and 14th holes before closing in with a final birdie on the 17th.

“The key here is to keep it on the fairway because the wind tends to pick up in the afternoon so you have to strike it quite accurately of the tee. I wasn’t driving it well of the tee last week but I had a slight rest before coming here so I’m feeling quite good,” said Chawalit, who is gunning for his first ever co-sanctioned win in the US$1.05 million tournament.

“I was in Qatar and then Philippines followed by Malaysia. I took a couple of days off before coming here and I’m feeling good about my game, feeling very relaxed too. I hope to win a co-sanctioned event. I won an Asian Tour event last year and winning a co-sanctioned tournament this year would be great,” added Chawalit, who lifted his second Asian Tour title last year at the Bangkok Airways Open.

Ilonen, who finished joint seventh in Malaysia, built on his form as he fired seven birdies against two bogeys for lone second spot.

“It was a very good start for the week. I played very well and holed some nice putts today. The wind got up over the last few holes and it was a bit scrappy,” said the 27-year-old.

After missing the cut last week, Kapur, who started on the back nine, kept a steady pace in the opening round firing five birdies before dropping a shot at the eighth hole.

“I was in a rush this morning and I did not have time to have my breakfast. But I’ve pulled through the round. I was low in energy but managed to get a good score. I’m pleased for sure,” said Kapur.

“I played quite steady and didn’t hit many bad shots at all. I started off with a string of pars and went on to hit three birdies in a row on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, and I continued to play steady after that. I was pretty solid out there and was putting well too,” he added.

After a 68, Gaurav Ghei of India, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, got into the swing of things in tied sixth place alongside compatriot S.S.P Chowrasia, American Bryan Saltus, Korea’s Nam Young-woo, Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima

“I played well and I’m pretty happy. I made a few changes to my swing end of last year. I was still fine tuning my swing coming into this season but now, I’m beginning to trust my swing. I’m concentrating on scoring and playing rather than thinking about my swing, like how it was today, so I’m quite pleased with my performance,” said Ghei.

Defending champion Simon Dyson of England shot a 70 in joint 25th place while Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee was in tied 56th spot after a 72.

Leading first round scores

65 - Chawalit Plaphol (THA)
66 - Mikko Ilonen (FIN)
67 - Mads Vibe-Hastrup (DEN), Shiv Kapur (IND)
68 - Gaurav Ghei (IND), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), S.S.P. Chowrasia (IND), Bryan Saltus (USA), Chapchai Nirat (THA), Nam Young-woo (KOR), Christian Cevaer (FRA)
69 - Mark Foster (ENG), Simon Hurd (ENG), Suk Jong-yul (KOR), Scott Strange (AUS), Ted Oh (KOR), Patrik Sjoland (SWE), 70 - Steve Alker (NZL), James Heath (ENG), Simon Dyson (ENG), Airil Rizman Zahari (MAS), Andrew Marshall (ENG), Chinarat Phadungsil (THA), Carlos Rodiles (ESP), Mark Mouland (WAL), Henrik Nystrom (SWE)

February 15, 2007

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