By David Ferguson
The wind was the victor in the second round of the Ballantine's Championship at Pinx Golf Club on the holiday island of Jeju, Korea. Best score of the day was 68, and worse weather is forecast for the weekend, in what is not quite the kind of advert for the resort that the unfortunate organisers would have had in mind.
|
![Robert-Jan Derksen walks to the 18th green at Pinx Golf Club in Jeju, Korea, during the second round of the Ballantine's Championship on Friday. The Dutchman shot a 69 to lead the tournament by two strokes. [Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090425/000802aa2f490b5d054e24.jpg "Robert-Jan Derksen walks to the 18th green at Pinx Golf Club in Jeju, Korea, during the second round of the Ballantine's Championship on Friday. The Dutchman shot a 69 to lead the tournament by two strokes. [Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group]")
|
|
Robert-Jan Derksen walks to the 18th green at Pinx Golf Club in Jeju, Korea, during the second round of the Ballantine's Championship on Friday. The Dutchman shot a 69 to lead the tournament by two strokes.?[Paul Lakatos/Parallel Media Group] |
Overnight leader Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano dropped two strokes to par to finish back in joint seventh. His fellow leader Mark Brown of New Zealand experienced a bit of a mare. Finishing the first round on –7, Mark had already forecast that the weather would play a big part, and was grateful to have recorded a low score. One of the later starters in the second round, he battled the worst of the conditions and seemed to be coming out just ahead.
Sharing the lead at 9-under after 15 holes he seemed to have done enough, but finally came a cropper over the last three holes. Three bogeys dropped him back to a share of fourth, three strokes behind.
Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen was the man with the luck and the game to see his way round at the head of the field. He has won twice on the European Tour, although not since 2005 when he won the Madeira Open. However, he has performed in Asia before – he fought Darren Clarke in a head-to-head that went all the way to the last shot of the last round at last year's BMW Asian Open in Shanghai.
Starting in second place at six-under, the Dutchman produced a masterly three-under-par 69 in difficult conditions to establish a lead on his own at –9, two shots clear of Korea's Kang Wook Soon and Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand.
"It was a difficult day," said Derksen, who began on the 10th tee. "But it didn't start too difficult. I would say the first eight holes were OK, it wasn't that windy. But then it picked up from 18 until I finished on the ninth. Every par was actually a good hole, and I managed to even squeeze in a few birdies."
Derksen – a two-time winner on the European Tour – stuck to his task despite a double-bogey seven at the fourth hole when his ball was apparently picked up by a spectator. Unable to find his ball after hitting a wayward drive to the right rough, he hit a provisional shot into the left rough – but that ball went missing as well.
"I definitely had an adventure on No.4," said Derksen. "We all looked for the first ball for five minutes but couldn't find it. So we walked to the left side where the provisional was. I had a look, but couldn't find that either. Then I saw the spotter there and she explained to me that the ball had been lying there and now it was gone.
"So we got a referee and he talked to the girl to make sure what had happened. And then he tried to find the spectator who probably picked up my ball, but we couldn't find him. But the girl said that the ball was there before, so I had a free drop and continued from there. If the marker hadn't been there, it would have been another lost ball and it would have been even worse."
Kang flew the flag for Korea at the €2.1 million Ballantine's Championship by carding a 69 that left him tied for second on seven-under 137.
Starting on the 10th in the morning, he fired three birdies in the first six holes before the wind picked up and, although he bogeyed the 18th, he picked up another birdie at the par-four third.
"I played well today," said Kang, a two-time winner of the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. "I got the ball close to the pin, but the very strong winds meant I missed a few birdie chances. Even so, I'm happy with my score."
Thongchai was level with Kang after a 71. "I played well today," said the Thai, who also started from the 10th. I hit a lot of greens, but had a three-putt on the last. Even so, I'm very happy. The weather is very difficult in the afternoon so we were lucky to start early.
"For the last seven holes the wind was very strong and it was tough to play the course. But I like coming to Korea very much and I enjoy this course. I'm looking forward to the weekend."
Mark Brown was joined on six-under 138 by Spain's Pablo Martin (69) and Italian Alessandro Tadini (71).
Two of the tournament's big guns, three-time Major winner Ernie Els and world No.9 Henrik Stenson, carded 74s to stand at two-under 142.
"I just hope I can get something going," said Stenson, who finished his round in heavy rain. "Obviously I'm quite far back, but a good round might make up some ground tomorrow."
Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood had a 73 and was level-par 144 for the tournament, while former Masters champion Fred Couples just made the cut at one-over 145 after a 76.
But defending champion Graeme McDowell will miss the weekend after adding a 73 to his opening 76.
Apologies are owed to Wu Ashun of China. I reported yesterday that he had carded a nine on the 12th – that score was later amended to a five, and he comfortably made the cut. China's other representative, Liang Wen-chong, withdrew from the event after suffering a severe bout of flu, as did Korea's Kang Kyung-sool. Gavin Flint and Mitchell Brown of Australia also had to withdraw due to injuries.
Latest news (Saturday)
Third round starts were delayed by fog, and the players will tee off from the 1st and the 10th. The wind is forecast to gust up to 60kph, and is already playing havoc with the scores.
Leading second round scores:
135 - Robert-Jan Derksen (NED) 66-69
137 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 66-71, Kang Wook-soon (KOR) 68-69
138 - Pablo Martin (ESP) 69-69, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 67-71,Mark Brown (NZL) 65-73
139 - Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP) 65-74, Kang Kyung-nam (KOR) 66-73, Branden Grace (RSA) 69-70, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 69-70, Seve Benson (ENG) 69-70,Lin Wen-hong (TPE) 69-70
140 - Kim Hyung-tae (KOR) 68-72, Kang Sung-hoon (KOR) 69-71, Scott Barr (AUS) 68-72, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 72-68, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 68-72, Noh Seung-yul (KOR) 71-69, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 67-73, Graeme Storm (ENG) 72-68, Rafael Cabrera B (ESP) 68-72 Selected scores
144 - Lee Westwood (ENG) 71-73, Lin Wen-tang (TPE) 73-71
145 - Paul Mcginley (IRL) 73-72, Fred Couples (USA) 69-76
(China.org.cn April 25, 2009)
