China's Liang Wenchong and Australia's Marcus Fraser fired
bogey-free eight-under-par 64s to share a one-stroke lead after the
first round of the Singapore Masters yesterday.
Teeing off in one of the first groups on the less demanding
par-72, 6,493-meter Classic Course, the 28-year-old Liang reached
the turn on three-under after a bogey-free 33, before storming
ahead of the field with a run of five birdies over six holes.
Fraser started his round in the early afternoon and recorded
four birdies on both the front and back nines to join Liang at the
top of the leaderboard towards the end of the day.
India's Jyoti Randhawa, Shingo Katayama of Japan and Briton
Barry Hume are all one shot behind the leaders at the US$1.1
million co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event.
The opening two rounds are split over two layouts at the Laguna
National Golf Club before the field is reduced today and the final
36 holes are played on the tougher par-72, 6,589-meter Masters
Course.
The leading 14 players completed their rounds on the Classic
Course with England's Graeme Storm, Irishman Peter Lawrie, Filipino
Angelo Que, New Zealand's Mark Brown and Martin Kaymer of Germany
sharing sixth place with six-under-par 66s.
The lowest round on the Masters Course was four-under 68 by a
group of five players, including holder Mardan Mamat of Singapore,
good enough for a share of 15th place.
With his unconventional baseball-like swing, Liang is the
highest-ranked Chinese professional at 114 in the world and has
registered seven wins on his domestic tour although he is still
searching for a breakthrough victory overseas.
"I was driving it steady and my putting was pretty consistent as
well," he told reporters.
"I played well on the front nine and after firing three birdies,
I was very relaxed heading into the last nine holes.
"I carried the momentum into the back nine and I am pleased with
my overall first round performance."
Fraser, whose lackluster season so far includes missing the cut
at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic, got off to good start with
birdies on the first two holes. A 40-foot birdie chip on the final
hole pushed him into the shared lead.
"I just did everything well today, I mean I hit a lot of wedge
shots in good and apart from a couple of wayward drives, my driving
was pretty good," Fraser said.
Randhawa recovered from a bogey on No. 3 after a dropped shot
with three consecutive birdies from the 4th, while Hume made an
eagle on the par-5 No. 15 on top of six birdies.
The 2005 winner, Nick Dougherty of Britain, battled with a solid
back nine on the Masters Course to finish on two-under-par 70 and
in a tie for 58th - just above the projected cut line - as some of
the big names struggled in the Singapore heat.
European Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood (70), David Howell (71)
and Darren Clarke (74) all need to improve today if they are to be
around for the weekend.
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(Shanghai Daily March 10, 2007)
