Kiwi Brown on top at Ballantine's
Asian Tour | 2009 Ballantines Championship | Round One | 23 Apr 2009
New Zealand’s Mark Brown got his campaign at the €2.1 million Ballantine’s Championship off to a strong start when he carded a seven-under-par 65 to take the first round lead with Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-castano on Thursday.
Both Brown and Fernandez-castano soared to the top of the leaderboard with matching six birdies and an eagle each at the magnificent Pinx Golf Club to take a single shot lead over Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, Korea’s Kang Kyung-nam and Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands who posted matching 66s to take a share of the third place.
Asian Tour regular Jason Knutzon of the United States is in tied- sixth place on 67 with England’s Robert Dinwiddie and Italy’s Alessandro Tadini.
Two-time Asian Tour winner Brown is enjoying a return to form since his back-to-back victories on the Asian Tour at the Sail Open and Johnnie Walker Classic in India last year.
While the 34-year-old New Zealander has not been on a winning streak since then, he knows that his confidence will be key in ensuring he returns to his winning ways once again.
“I didn’t play well for a good few months, and just lost it a little bit. But it doesn’t take much to get it back,” said Brown. “You just hit a few good shots and I’m the type of person that the only way I can gain confidence is by actually seeing the proof, not by trying to kid myself. When you start to see the ball fly a little bit straighter, then you slowly gain confidence.”
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee again showed why he is one of Asia’s best when he put in yet another impressive performance.
Thongchai started strongly with four successive birdies on his opening front-nine, starting from the second hole through to the fifth. The only blemish to his card was a lone bogey on the sixth before he made the turn in 33.
The Thai then began his homeward run with an eagle and followed that up with another birdie on the 12th to go to six-under before signing off with an inward 33.
“It was nice to be able to play in this kind of the weather today. Those four birdies that I made in a row were very nice indeed and my plan is to continue playing the way I’ve been playing today,” said the Thai ace, who tops the honour list with an unprecedented 11th career victory on the Asian Tour.
Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol and Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing are amongst the 12 players that include world number six, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and three-time Major winner Ernie Els all tied for ninth on 68.
Chawalit, who is currently in 46th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, gave himself a healthy lead with an opening eagle on the 543-yard par-five 10th in the morning.
The Thai pared the next five holes before a making a birdie on the 16th but gave that shot back again on the 17th for his lone bogey of the round.
Two more birdies on the fourth and ninth in his homeward run ensured that he would stay just three shots behind Fernandez-castano and Brown, who was also the morning leader.
“I drove the ball very well today. The weather conditions were benign today, the winds were not blowing very strongly and it certainly helped with the low scores,” said the two-time Asian Tour winner.
Couples, who won the Masters in 1992, will be looking for a more consistent round of golf after mixing five birdies with two bogeys to finish four shots off the lead.
“It was a beautiful day. We were all expecting wind and didn’t get a whole lot of it, but I hit the ball pretty well. I made a few putts and ended up with a couple bogeys (sixth and 18th) but I made my share of nice little eight and ten 10‑footers to keep the round going. I guess I just have to come out again tomorrow at 7am and try to get it going again,” said Couples who finish the day tied for 21st.
The Ballantine’s Championship is the first Asian Tour event in Korea this season and is sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Korean PGA.
Source – Asian Tour
