Sports

Friday October 23, 2009

Thais Chinnarat and Pariya among the leaders at Johor Open

By S. RAMAGURU

JOHOR BARU: Rain played havoc in the opening round of the Iskandar Johor Open as three unheralded players took centre-stage at the Royal Johor Country Club yesterday.

Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil and Pariya Junhasavasdikul and New Zealand’s Mark Purser made a spirited start to head the leaderboard of the US$1mil Asian Tour event.

In a rain-interrupted round, play was suspended in the morning for over three hours and resumed only at 3pm. A total of 78 players were unable to complete their round and they will resume play this morning.

Best Malaysia performer: Malaysia’s Danny Chia plays a shot from the fairway in the first round of the Iskandar Johor Open yesterday. He shot a three-under 69.

Chinnarat, who holds the distinction of being the youngest winner on the Asian Tour, posted a four-under 68 and it was matched by Pariya and Purser.

Malaysia’s Danny Chia, Gaganjeet Bhullar of India and defending champion Retief Goosen of South Africa were among the 10 players bunched in tied third position on 69.

Starting on the 10th tee, Chinnarat started his round with two birdies on the 11th and 13th before carding a double bogey on the 17th hole after his approach shot landed in the water. He recovered brilliantly with another birdie on the 18th hole to make the turn on 35.

And he continued his impressive form with more birdies on the first, second and sixth holes.

Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand (left) and Airil Rizman Zahari of Malaysia wait for their turn to tee off.

“My putting and approach shots were good but I wasn’t driving very well. I tried to play my best and my chipping and putting pulled me up. But overall I was quite happy with my game,” said Chinnarat.

Purser welcomed a return to form when he holed a 20-foot putt on the first hole for a birdie and went on to claim another five birdies against two bogeys.

He did well to maintain his momentum when he chipped in from the edge of the green for a birdie on the 12th hole.

Purser, whose father Bryan was a badminton doubles bronze medallist at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games, enjoyed three top-10s in the first three events he played in on the Asian Tour this year.

“I got off to a good start where I birdied the first few holes, which certainly helped. I just did not drive very well but overall the rest of my game was pretty tidy and that kept me in the game and gave me a chance to shoot a good round,” he said.

Goosen was not too happy with his game and felt that the three-hour delay took a toll on the players.

“It took me about three hours to hole one putt. It has been a long day,” he said.

“I got off to a great start, birdied the first two holes and bogeyed the next two holes where I missed two short putts. I was not striking the ball too well.

“I struggled today, so hopefully the next time I play will be Saturday and I will be hitting the ball a little bit better.

“My last birdie on the 18th was the most crucial and the toughest putt I had from six feet but it was nice to roll that in.”

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