Gunasegaran plays poorly but stays on top of leaderboard
Gunasegaran plays poorly but stays on top of leaderboard
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
P. Gunasegaran of Malaysia put in a dismal performance on the
second day of the Rp 450 million (US$50,000) Olympic Open golf
tournament, yet he ended up at the top of the leaderboard after
Wednesday's competition, thanks to poorer runs by rivals.
Gunasegaran carded one-over-par 73, but he led the standings
by four strokes after Maan Nasim, his fellow leader on the
opening day, crashed to five-over par 77.
The two had registered two-under-par on the first day.
Burhan Bora of Indonesia shot four-over-par 76 for a total of
148 to tie with Chen Yuan Chi of Chinese Taipei, who, being one-
under on the opening day, blew to five-over-par 77.
Defending champion Stephen Atako Lindskog of Sweden and 2000
winner Wang Ter Chang of Chinese Taipei had also yet to lift
their play.
Wang shot four-over for an overall five-over-par 149. Lindskog
also ended up four-over for six-over-par 150 with local hopeful
Ilyassyak.
Cho Min-am of South Korea also failed to maintain his form to
drop to tied-13. But his overall 154 from two days appeared to be
the best score of the amateurs.
The second day of competition at the Cikarang Golf & Country
Club proved barren, with no golfers playing under. The complaints
were the same: treacherous roughs and slick greens, according to
a media release here.
"With the fairway like this, we can liken this competition to
big matches in the United States and England," said American
Michael Rich.
Wahyu Uke Hendarman, who once underwent golf tutelage in
California, opined the same. "The pins are exceptionally
difficult to tame. It makes the tournament seem as difficult as
in U.S. Open," he said.
Tough matches abounded in flight 12, which grouped
Gunasegaran, Maan and Uke.
Gunasegaran and Maan scored 37 strokes after completing the
front nine. But the Malaysian embarked on the back nine as the
quieter side to close the play with 36, compared with Maan's 40.
After two days of competition, 42 of the 89 participants
should get over the cutoff and are ready for the remaining two
match days to Friday. The three best amateurs should also join
the list.
But the organizers failed to give out the qualifiers list.