PERTAMINA INDONESIA PRESIDENT INVITATIONAL RELATED STORIES Pertamina Indonesia President Inv'l home page Pertamina Indonesia President Inv'l Preview Four to watch this week Round 1: Prom and Hur take clubhouse lead Round 1: Basic joins leaders as 1st rd completed Round 2: Lu in three-way tie for clubhouse lead Round 2: Westwood joins leaders at halfway Round 3: Prom and Kang battle for lead Round 3: Bhullar & Kang lead after three rounds Round 4: Birdie-eagle finish gives Pagunsan maiden victory Final Scores & Prize Money About the Damai Indah Golf BSC Course Full details of the Damai Indah BSC course Westwood in form for first Indonesian outing Asian Tour supports Parent-Child pro-am Liang fit again for Indonesian challenge Indonesia hopes President Invitational will boost local golf Liang joins powerful Pertamina Indonesia field Lee Westwood to play P. Indonesia Pres. Inv'l ASIAN GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Open: Pain for Choi as Harrington defends Open: Closing 74 gives Liang more major hopes Open: Tough Open makes Lam eye Asian success Open: Angelo Que means to learn and return Open: Late bogies mean early exit for Prayad IGF forms Olympic Committee with eye to 2016 Mission Hills to host AP Summit GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Padraig Harrington hungry for more success Michelle Wie to play on PGA Tour again IGF forms 2016 Olympic Committee Greg Norman proud of achievement Ian Poulter impressive with second place Henrik Stenson happy with his best ever finish

Prom and Hur take clubhouse lead as light fails

Thai stalwart Prom Meesawat and Korean rookie Hur In-hoi took the clubhouse lead after firing matching seven-under-par 65s at the Pertamina Indonesia President Invitational on Thursday.

Prom, who is ranked 25th on the Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit, shot eight birdies against a lone dropped shot while Hur enjoyed a bogey free round at the Damai Indah Golf – BSD Course.

The duo were a stroke ahead of Filipino youngster Juvic Pagunsan and India’s Harmeet Kahloon who were both in tied third position with Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood in joint fifth spot after a 67. Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung and India’s Digvijay Singh fired similar scores also in a tie for fifth place before play was suspended at 1:54pm due to lightning. Play resumed at 4:00pm.

American Anthony Kang was six under after 12 holes before the horn blew a second time at 5:40pm to mark the end of play for the day due to darkness.

Taking full advantage of the calm conditions in the morning was Prom as he was glad to be back in the leading fray after having struggled with his putting in the past two weeks.

“I am happy to find consistency in my putting today and pleased to be leading. I hope to enjoy another solid putting day tomorrow,” said Prom, with one Asian Tour title under his belt. He is competing in his 12th event this season.

Prom, 23, was one under after nine holes on the back nine and fired six more birdies on the way home to climb up to the top spot.

“It was more of a mental thing with my putting recently where I struggled to deliver a good round but I told myself to put my head down and not to worry if I don’t make any birdies, and it paid off. I was relaxed and even shot three birdies in a row on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes,” added the Thai.

After turning pro last year, Hur, 20, is enjoying his maiden outing on the Asian Tour having produced two top-10 finishes this year. He shot seven birdies as he took advantage of the wide fairways at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

“I wasn’t driving it too well in India but today, I was really solid off the tee. I’ve learnt a lot from India and have adopted a stronger mental game so I am eager to stay at the top this time,” said Hur, who was the joint-leader at the Hero Honda Indian Open two weeks ago.

Westwood blasted four birdies in the last five holes as he was pleased to continue his good run this year.

“It took me a while to adjust to the greens here but I finished off strongly. I struck a few scrappy shots in the opening stages but held my game well. The most challenging bit about this course is finding the fairways but I had a decent start and I’m pleased to be where I am now,” said Westwood, who hopes to continue his solid track record in Asia having won in Japan, Macau and Malaysia.

Filipino youngster Pagunsan was satisfied to have regained his form this week as he shot seven birdies before taking his only stumble at the 16th hole.

“I played solid and I’m very happy with my score. It’s been a while since I produced one good round. The conditions were good and the weather was in our favour so I hope it will stay the same when I head out tomorrow,” said Pagunsan, who was the 2006 Asian Tour’s Rookie of the Year.

A total of 54 players have yet to complete the first round which will resume play at 6:20am on Friday.

Leading first round scores (click here for full leaderboard):

65 - Hur In-hoi (KOR), Prom Meesawat (THA)
66 - Juvic Pagunsan (PHI), Harmeet Kahlon (IND)
67 - Lee Westwood (ENG), Mo Joong-kyung (KOR), Digvijay Singh (IND)
68 - Hsu Mong-nan (TPE), Ilyasyak (INA), Airil Rizman (MAS), Simon Griffiths (ENG), Benny Kasiadi [A] (INA)
69 - P. Gunasegaran (MAS), Lin Chien-bing (TPE), Jochen Lupprian (GER), Atthaphon Prathummanee (THA), Olle Nordberg (SWE), Lin Wen-hong (TPE)
70 - Jamel Ondo (INA), Chang Tse-peng (TPE), Denny Supriardi (INA), Tony Carolan (AUS), Brad Kennedy (AUS), Simon Hurd (ENG), Liang Wen-chong (CHN), Adam Blyth (AUS),Andik Mauludin [A] (INA), Ben Leong (MAS), Arjun Singh (IND), Pornsakon Tipsanit (THA), S. Murthy (MAS), Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND), Martin Rominger (SUI)

October 25, 2007