Mike Cunning takes first lead in Singapore
By Bobby Allen Wilson
SINGAPORE (JP): American Mike Cunning took the first round lead today in the US$200,000 Yokohama Singapore PGA Championship at Raffles Country Club and promptly admitted that his record in Asia drove him crazy.
The 39 year old from Phoenix, Arizona, fired a six-under-par 66 at Raffles Country Club to lead the Omega Tour event by one stroke from Thailand's Thammanoon Sriroj and Australian Grant Dodd.
Indonesia's Kasiadi who has been in the Tour since the Sabah Masters, finished joint fourth with a fine 3-under-par 69 with South Korean Goo Ja-hoon.
Maan Naasim, the second Indonesian player in the fray, finished poorly when he closed the round with a 2-over 74.
The Surabaya-based Kasiadi, who made good score until the second round at the Singapore Open last month, fired three birdies yesterday in the 2nd, 4th and 12th.
Kasiadi last week was honored to receive a set of golf equipment from Mizuno comprising wood set, forged iron set, golf bag, shoes and visor. The set was received by Taufic Aziz, secretary-general of the Indonesia Golf Association and was presented by a Golf House official at Jakarta's Pondok Indah Golf and Country club.
For well over a decade, the name Cunning has regularly featured at the top of the leaderboard in Asia but the American has been frustrated with his lack of tournament titles. Cunning has won three times in Asia but his many top-10 finishes paint the picture of what should have been.
The American is currently enjoying one of the best seasons of his career but again his impressive statistics are missing a victory. On the Omega Tour in 1997 he has finished second once and third on three occasions.
Cunning made seven birdies in his round over the 6,829-yard layout and dropped just one shot.
The haze, caused by forest fires in Indonesia, is not as bad in Singapore as it is Malaysia and Indonesia, but nevertheless it maintained a murky presence over the Robert Trent Jones Jr.- designed course at Raffles.
Cunning, who is presently first on the Omega Order of Merit, made the turn in three-under-par 33 and quickly shot into the lead with birdies on 14, 15 and 17.
New putter
Suspect putting, which has been the main reason Cunning has been unable to win more often in Asia, was evident in the American's game today.
"I used a new putter for the first time today and used two different putting techniques, one cross-handed and the other conventional," said Cunning.
Thammanoon, looking to make amends for his sudden-death play- off loss in the Sabah Masters title in August, moved into contention after a round highlighted by a brilliant short game performance. The 28 year old chipped in twice for birdies and also holed a 30-footer for a birdie.
"I was a bit lucky. The course was very tough. You really can't afford to miss the fairways otherwise you will most probably start bogeying holes," said Thammanoon, who fired seven birdies in his round.
India's Jeev Milkha Singh who played with the Thai player was in awe of Thammanoon's short game. "He was just amazing. I have never seen anything like it. His short game has to be one of the best in the world."
Results: 66 - Mike Cunning (USA) 67 - Thammanoon Sriroj (Tha), Grant Dodd (Aus) 68 - Yasuhiro Taguchi (Jpn), Yeh Wei-Tze (Tpe) 69 - Kasiadi (Ina), Goo Ja-hoon (Kor), Scott Laycock (Aus), Aaron Meeks (USA), Craig Kamps (Rsa) 70 - Dominique Boulet (Hkg), Shoichi Kita (Jpn), Nico Van Rensburg (Rsa), Greg Hanrahan (USA), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), Andrew Bonhomme (Aus), Wayne Bradley (Rsa) 71 - Christian Pena (USA), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Arjun Atwal (Ind), Zaw Moe (Myn), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 72 - Eric Meeks (USA), Fran Quinn (USA), Soe Kyaw Naing (Myn), Robert Huxtable (USA), Toru Kinoshita (Jpn), Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha), Leith Wastle (Aus), Supha Veerawut (Tha) ... 74 - Maan Naasim (Ina)