Thailand's
Thaworn Wiratchant took his familiar place at the top of the leaderboard
after a rain-hit opening round at the Crowne Plaza Open on Thursday.
Thaworn, currently leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit, battled
to a three-under-par 69 at Grand Epoch City Golf Club for a one-stroke
lead over China's upcoming star Li Chao, who carded a 70 in the
US$200,000 event.
It was a tough opening day marred by persistent showers, which caused
a one-hour suspension early in the morning. As a result, a total
of 45 players will return early Friday to complete their first rounds.
Thailand's Prom Meesawat, Filipino Gerald Rosales and Hong Kong's
James Stewart carded 71s to remain close to the lead but the day
once again belonged to Thaworn, winner of the Taiwan Open two weeks
ago and the Standard Chartered Indonesia Open in March.
The Thai dropped two opening bogeys but bounced back strongly with
six birdies and one bogey over his last 10 holes. "We're playing
on tough course this week and the rain made it so much harder this
morning. I didn't have the best of starts but I came back nicely.
To shoot a 69 is very good and I'm happy," said Thaworn.
A tap-in birdie on the par five ninth set him on his way to recovery
before he drained an 18-footer on 10 for another birdie. He dropped
a third bogey on 12 but lighted up the course with a 15-foot birdie
on 13, a 30-footer on 15, a chip-in birdie on 16 and another birdie
at 17 from 18 feet.
"My putting was on. It was a good strong finish to the round
and I did get lucky on 16 with that chip in. I drove it 30 yards
wide of the fairway but got a lucky recovery," said Thaworn.
The second edition of the Crowne Plaza Open lost its top draw, Zhang
Lian-wei of China, who withdrew before the start of his round due
to a bout of flu. But youngster Li Chao led the local brigade with
a battling round that included five birdies.
The 24-year-old Li has shown signs of maturity in his game in recent
months. He won a China Tour event and finished tied ninth at the
Volkswagen Masters-China earlier this month where he was showered
with praise by US Open champion Michael Campbell.
The Beijing-born Li dropped shots on the first and third holes but
fought back with five birdies. A late blemish on 18 for bogey denied
him a share of the lead with Thaworn.
India's Digvijay Singh was two-under for his round through 12 holes
while Stewart, Rosales and Meesawat enjoyed the slightly better
half of the weather by completing their opening rounds and staying
within striking distance of the leader.
Leading first round scores
69 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA)
70 - Li Chao (CHN)
71 - Gerald Rosales (PHI), Prom Meesawat (THA), James Stewart (HKG)
72 - Jonathan O'Sullivan (AUS), Prayad Marksaeng (THA), Chang Tse-peng
(TPE), Jochen Lupprian (GER), Larry Austin (AUS)
73 - Atthaphon Prathummanee (THA), Chris Rodgers (ENG), Guido Van
Der Valk (NDL), Andrew Pitts (USA), John Wither (SCO), Aung Win
(MYN), Pat Giles (AUS)
74 - Rafael Ponce (ECU), Richard Moir (AUS), Alistair Presnell (AUS),
Richard Lee (NZL), Zheng Shao-guang (CHN)
75 - Danny Zarate (PHI), Uttam Singh Mundy (IND), Olle Nordberg
(SWE), Scott Taylor (USA), Zhang Na (CHN), Tang Jin-chang (CHN),
Liao Gui-ming (CHN), Vivek Bhandari (IND), Qiu Zhi-feng (CHN), Yoshinobu
Tsukada (JPN)
Note: 45 players to return on Friday morning to complete their first
rounds
Thailand's
Thaworn Wiratchant took his familiar place at the top of the leaderboard
after a rain-hit opening round at the Crowne Plaza Open on Thursday.
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