2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup - Round 1: Thailand leads Asian challenge just two behind

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng ‘joked' their way to a nine-under-par 63 in the opening round's fourball as they led the Asian charge in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup on Thursday.

Thongchai, a two-time Asian Tour number one, was in sparkling form as he contributed six birdies in the better-ball format while Prayad sank three birdies at the Mission Hills Golf Club's Olazabal Course.

The Thais ended the day in joint third place, two behind the United States team of Book Weekley and Heath Slocum who combined for a blistering 61 to lead by one shot from Germany , represented by Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer in the US$5 million event billed as "The Olympics of Golf."

"I played very well along with Prayad. He drove nicely and as he teed off first and was always on the fairways, I could get aggressive. We were very steady," said Thongchai, who is making his debut in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup.

Prayad paid tribute to his partner's scintillating play and said they talked all the way through the round which kept them at ease. "My game wasn't really in form. Thongchai played really good to get us going," said Prayad, a five-time winner in Asia .

Thongchai added: "We worked well together. There were some holes where I just picked up the ball. If someone played bad, the other would concentrate hard. It is very important to do that in the fourball. In the last hole, he drove it into the water but I got it into play (for par).

"We were talking about jokes all the time. We talked about everything out there. We were just catching up as we've played in different events mostly this season."

The Thais, who are using matching strips in the colours of the Thai national flag this week, believe they can make up ground in Friday's foursomes (alternate shot), which is the more difficult format.

"We'll plan tonight on who will take the odd number or even number holes. There are some holes which I like and some which he likes, so we'll decide from there. But I feel the more we play together, the more confidence we'll have," said Thongchai.

Prayad felt proud to see Thailand feature prominently on a crowded leaderboard. "It's good," said Prayad. "Tomorrow will be important but it won't be a problem for us."

India 's Gaurav Ghei and Jyoti Randhawa also enjoyed a strong start with a 65, with Randhawa starring for the team with six birdies as they ended the day in a share of 11 th place.

"Jyoti played really well. I was just riding along," enthused Ghei. "This is a very good start. It would have been better if we had picked up a few more shots. I missed a small one on 16 and on 15 (par five) we didn't make birdie after good drives. We left a couple of shots here and there."

Like the Thais, the Indian duo also enjoyed each other's company as this is the first time they are competing in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup as a pair.

"Gaurav was there all the time and that gives you a lot of support and I got aggressive and made birdies. Whenever we needed pars, he made it. It's not that I was the only one who played … it's a good team effort. Not dropping bogey was a great effort from us," said Randhawa.

"It was easy to click as a team. We were great. A few times, he read my lines and I read his lines.

"There were a lot of things that we talked about on the golf course which cannot be printed! We were relaxed out there."

The home combination of Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong ended the first day four off the pace. Zhang got the team out of the blocks with two opening birdies before Liang, the current leader of the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, contributed five birdies.

"It's unfortunate on the par fives as we missed quite a few good opportunities to go low. We were hoping to get down to 10-under for the day, but overall, I think I would grade myself a B-plus or an A-minus," said Zhang.

Liang said the team will be aggressive in tomorrow's foursomes in their bid to catch the Americans. "We might be going a little bit more aggressive and hopefully get into the top-10 in the weekend so that we will get a chance to hopefully pick up the trophy on the weekend," said Liang.

Korea 's Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho also fired a 65 while the Philippines , represented by Gerald Rosales and Tony Lascuna, carded a 67.

First Round Scores (click here for leaderboard):

61: USA (Boo Weekley/Heath Slocum)
62: Germany (Martin Kaymer/Alex Cejka)
63: Finland (Mikko Ilonen/Pasi Purhonen), Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd), Scotland (Colin Montgomerie/Marc Warren), South Africa (Retief Goosen/Trevor Immelman), Thailand     (Thongchai Jaidee/Prayad Marksaeng), England (Justin Rose/Ian Poulter)
64: France (Raphael Jacquelin/Gregory Havret), Austria (Markus Brier/Claude Grenier)
65: Korea (Lee Sung/Lee Seung-ho), Italy (Edoardo Molinari/Francesco Molinari), Holland (Robert-Jan Derksen/Maarten Lafeber), Denmark (Anders Hansen/Soren Hansen), India (Jyoti Randhawa/Gaurav Ghei), Argentina (Andres Romero/Ricardo Gonzales), China (Liang Wen-chong/Zhang Lian-wei)
66: Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Fabrizio Zanotti), Sweden (Robert Karlsson/Peter Hanson), Canada (Mike Weir/Wes Heffernan), Ireland (Michael Hoey/Gareth Maybin), Australia (Nick O'Hern/Nathan Green)
67: Philippines (Gerald Rosales/Tony Lascuna), New Zealand (Stephen Scahill/Richard Lee), Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez/Jose Manuel Lara), Japan (Hideto Tanihara/Tetsuji Hiratsuka)
68: Germany (Jorge Benedetti/Gustavo Mendoza), Puerto Rico (Miguel Suarez/Wilfredo Morales)

Note: The first and third rounds will use the fourball (better ball) format while the second and final rounds will use the foursomes (alternate shot) format.

November 22, 2007

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