Derksen moves ahead at Ballantine's
Asian Tour | 2009 Ballantines Championship | Round Two | 24 Apr 2009
Robert-Jan Derksen of the Netherlands stayed on course to win the €2.1 million Ballantine’s Championship by taking the second round lead on Friday.
Derksen posted a three-under-par 69 for a two day total of seven-under-par 137 at the Pinx Golf Club to take a two shot lead over Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Korea’s Kang Wook-soon who finished their day on 137.
Joint overnight leader Mark Brown of New Zealand had to settle for a share of fourth place with Italy’s Alessandro Tadini and Spain’s Pablio Martin after four uncharacteristic bogeys in his last five holes saw him lose the grip on his lead.
Derksen, who started on the back-nine, got off strongly with an opening birdie. He followed that up with another two on the 15th and 17th before making the turn in 33.
The Dutchman then had to endure a roller-coaster ride in his inward-nine where he mixed three birdies against a single bogey and double bogey in the wind-swept day.
“It was a difficult day. It didn’t start too difficult. I would say the first eight holes were okay. It wasn’t that windy. But then it picked up from the 18th till my ninth. It was tough,” said Derksen.
“I guess it’s difficult for everybody. But to be in the lead after two days, or at least close to the lead or whatever happens, it’s always a good starting point,” added Derksen.
Thongchai who took advantage of the benign weather conditions in the first round had to contend with Jeju’s famous winds that threatened to derail his chances of securing his 12th win on the Asian Tour too.
“It was a very difficult day as compared to yesterday when the winds were not very strong. I think especially for the last seven holes, it made it very difficult for us to play the course,” said Thongchai.
“The greens are a bit firm making it difficult to control the ball. I hope it gets better tomorrow” added Thongchai.
Kang, one of Korea’s most decorated players also had to battle the strong winds to keep himself in contention at the Ballantine’s Championship which is the first Asian Tour event in Korea this season to be sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and Korean PGA.
“I think my shots were very good today, and I got the ball very close to the pin, but unfortunately because of the very strong winds, I missed several birdie opportunities,” said Kang.
Kang made a name for himself in Asia by winning two Order of Merit titles in 1996 and 1998 and also became the first player in the Asian Tour’s history to surpass US$500,000 in career earnings.
The 42-year-old Korean has however decided to put a stop to his globe-trotting lifestyle and rather remain in the comforts of home today.
“I think I played in the Asian Tour for over 15 years, and for me, the weather was very hot. So physically, it was very difficult for me. I thought I would let younger players have a go at the game, and I just wanted to be in Korea,” said Kang who tips 17-year-old teenager Noh Seung-yul as the future star of Korean golf.
“I’ve watched him played on the Asian Tour and I think he is the future for Korean golf. You just have to look at his swing and his distance, it doesn’t come short. He definitely has what it takes to compete against the best,” added Kang on Noh who carded a 69 to take a share of the 13th place on 140.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell title defence meanwhile came to a halt after he signed off with scores of 76 and 73 over the last two rounds to make his exit from the event.
“This is obviously not what I had in mind for my title defence this week. I played a little better today but I just didn’t have it on the greens the last two days,” said McDowell.
A total of 74 players made the weekend cut which was set at one-over.
China’s Liang Wen-chong withdrew from the event after suffering a severe bout of flu while Gavin Flint and Mitchell Brown of Australia also had to do so due to injuries. Korea’s Kang Kyung-sool had to retire during his round due to flu.
