Thworn Wiratchant leads the way in Indonesia Open
Thworn Wiratchant leads the way in Indonesia Open
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
With Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and fellow Thai Thongchai
Jaidee grabbing the headlines for their bid to make the Masters
in April, Thaworn Wiratchant is letting his game do the talking
at the US$1 million Standard Chartered Indonesia Open 2005.
Wiratchant, who ended a three-year title drought with a Taiwan
Masters victory last year, was forced to complete his lightning-
interrupted first round from Thursday on Friday morning here.
He continued his steady progress in the afternoon -- including
a spectacular eagle on the final hole -- for back-to-back rounds
of 63 and a 14 under par 126 atop the leaderboard.
The weather continued to play havoc at the cosponsored Asian
and European Tour tournament on Friday at Cengkareng Golf Club in
West Jakarta, with 64 players failing to finish the second round
when lightning caused another halt in play at about 5 p.m.
Among them were first round co-leaders Arjun Atwal of India
and Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland, who only completed 13 holes
and nine holes respectively when play was stopped.
They were 10 under, and will join European number one
Montgomerie -- three under par after 13 holes -- and Asian player
of the year Thongchai (7 under par) in completing their rounds on
Saturday morning.
Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts was a stroke behind Wiratchant
with a 13 under par 127 (65, 62).
Wiratchant, who is renowned for his unorthodox swing, was
pleased with his two days' work.
"It is good to be at the top of the leaderboard and I will do
my best at the weekend," the 38 year old, who has not missed a
cut this year, said.
The eagle at the par-five ninth was particularly pleasing.
"My driving has been improving this week. I also managed to
hole many putts today, which was nice."
Colsaerts started off well with birdies on the first and
fourth holes, with his only hiccup occurring with a bogey on the
13th.
Adam Fraser of Australia was joint third with a nine under par
131 (66, 65), along with Terry Pilkadaris of Australia (67, 64)
and Raphael Jacquelin of France (64, 67).
The surprise of the day was Satoshi Tomiyama's hole in one on
the eighth hole -- the first for the Japanese.
He was joint sixth with an eight under par 132 (69, 63) tied
with Daren Griff of Canada (70, 62), Terry Price of Australia
(66, 66) and Daniel Vancsik of Argentina (66, 66).
Meanwhile, the Asian Tour announced that it had been ratified
as a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours on
Thursday.
"The ratification is important for the Asian Tour to progress
more efficiently and actively in our vision to develop
professional golf in Asia," Asian Tour chief executive Louis
Martin.
According to the tour's media director Chuah Choo Chiang, the
ratification will also lead to another tournament in Indonesia
later this year, probably in July.
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