2006 Volkswagen Masters-China Open - Round 1: Lu outguns major winners to lead

Chinese Taipei's veteran Lu Wen-teh eclipsed Major champions Michael Campbell of New Zealand and South African Retief Goosen with a stunning nine-under-par 63 for the first round lead in the Volkswagen Masters-China on Thursday.

Lu, 43, fired a blistering 10 birdies at Yalong Bay Golf Club to lead by one stroke from title holder Goosen and Campbell, who returned matching 64s in the US$300,000 Asian Tour event.

England's Yasin Ali, tied sixth in the Taiwan Open last week, extended his rich vein of form with a 66 while Scott Strange of Australia, Malaysia's Danny Chia and China's Huang Ming-jie were a further shot back.

With all the attention on the Major champions this week, Lu quietly slipped under the radar. "I really like this course, it's windy here which is similar to conditions back home," said Lu, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour. "I didn’t play well last week as there was a lot of pressure playing at home as everyone knows me. So coming into this week, it's mentally more relaxing as I'm unknown in China."

Starting from the 10th, Lu parred the first three holes before striking it hot with successive birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, holing putts from inside 15 feet. He rolled in another five-foot birdie putt on 17 before his lone bogey on 18.

On the inward nine, the experienced campaigner maintained his sizzling form, rifling iron shots close and even chipping in for birdie on the third hole. Lu signed off in style by closing with a hat-trick of birdies. "My putting was amazing. I only missed two greens and holed some good putts. It feels good to be leading the US Open champions," said Lu.

A 20-foot eagle conversion at his fourth hole, the 15th, sparked Campbell's morning round. He picked up six more birdies to signal his intentions of improving from last year's runner-up finish to Goosen.

The Kiwi star, who triumphed in the US Open last year, said getting his name up on the leaderboard early was a psychological boost. "Absolutely. Every time you see a good player leading a tournament, it makes it a harder goal to beat the guy. Over the past two months, you see Tiger Wood's name up on the leaderboard and when he's playing well, he's hard to beat. Hopefully I'll be sending the same kind of message out there this week," said Campbell.

Campbell, playing in the first group out, took advantage of ideal conditions by turning in 32. He pencilled down four more birdies but was disappointed to only par the short par four fourth hole after hooking a tee shot into water.

"I lost half a shot on the seventh. If it was five yard right, it would have been perfect and I could have easily made birdie. It's probably going to play under its par, at least 3.5 to 3.2, so to make par there was disappointing," he said.

Despite a stiff breeze blowing in the afternoon, Goosen responded superbly to Lu's and Campbell's flying start with a wonderful display of ball striking, reeling in an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey. Coincidently, the South African also carded an opening 64 en route to victory at the Volkswagen Masters-China in Beijing last year.

"I got off to a slow start and suddenly I made three birdies in a row (from the fourth). But I played the par fives poorly in one under and lost a few shots," said Goosen, a two-time US Open champion.

He threatened Lu's lead briefly by going to eight under through 14 holes but dumped a two iron approach at the par five 16th into water for his lone blemish. "My ball striking was pretty good and I hit some nice iron shots close. The work that I've put in my swing in the past month or so is coming in now.

"It's good to get off to a good start. A couple of weeks ago in the Korean Open, I also had a good start but struggled from then on. Hopefully that won't happen again. It's good to see Michael starting well, maybe we'll see each other again on Sunday," said the world number seven.

Dubai-based Ali is dreaming of victory against the Major champions after safely securing his Asian Tour card for 2007, with four UBS Order of Merit events remaining. The big-hitting Ali got out of first gear quickly with five birdies in his opening six holes.

"I've moved the goal posts a little bit and will try to achieve different goals now. I'm hoping to win one of the tournaments over the next few weeks, that's for sure," said Ali. "I started off pretty hot. But I parred the two par fives which I was kind of expecting to birdie and picked up shots which I thought I would par. It's funny how this game works."

The story of the day also belonged to little-known Chinese player, Huang. Only into his third season as a professional, the 25-year-old carried the nation's challenge with a seven-birdie round. "The key to my round was that I wasn't thinking too much about my game. There are now more tournaments in China and my game has improved."

China's all-time great Zhang Lian-wei scrambled to a 72 while last week's Taiwan Open winner Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei enjoyed a solid start with a 68.

Leading first round scores
63 - Lu Wen-teh (TPE)
64 - Michael Campbell (NZL), Retief Goosen (RSA)
66 - Yasin Ali (ENG)
67 - Scott Strange (AUS), Huang Ming-jie (CHN), Danny Chia (MAS)
68 - Suk Jong-yul (KOR), Adam Le Vesconte (AUS), Lin Wen-tang (TPE), Gerald Rosales (PHI), Ross Bain (SCO), Tony Lascuna (PHI), Simon Dunn (SCO), Somkiat Srisanga (THA)
69 - Gary Rusnak (USA), Adam Blyth (AUS)
70 - Phillip Price (WAL), Wu As-Hun [A] (CHN), Kane Webber (AUS), Anthony Kang (USA), Mahal Pearce (NZL), Chen Yuan-chi (TPE), Brad Iles (NZL), Digvijay Singh (IND), Li Chao (CHN), Marcus Both (AUS), Lu Wei-lan (TPE), Chen Tze-chung (TPE), Arjun Singh (IND), Michael Wright (AUS)
71 - Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA), Andy Martin (AUS), Simon Nash (AUS), Garth Mulroy (RSA),
David Freeman (HKG)
72 - Prom Meesawat (THA), Amandeep Johl (IND), Gavin Flint (AUS), Peter Karmis (RSA),
Andrew Pitts (USA), Ari Savolainen (FIN), Kevin Chun (NZL), Liao Gui-ming (CHN), Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Zhang Lian-Wei (CHN), Terry Pilkadaris (AUS), Chinarat Phadungsil (THA), Unho Park (AUS), Juvic Pagunsan (PHI), Park Jun-Won (KOR), Yeh Chang-tng (TPE), Martin Rominger (SUI), Chan Song (KOR)

October 12, 2006

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