As China took on the rest of the world in this week's Volvo Open in Beijing, it was definitely the home turf that emerged victor. Not all the distant outposts of the European Tour present a significant challenge, but the CDB Course is no pushover.
Long holes, tricky pin-placings, and a blustery wind kept scores high, and afternoon starters suffered the most. Overall, only 27 of 156 competitors bettered par, and only two of the last 36 starters finished in red.
The wind made the 570-yard 9th and the 564-yard 18th unreachable in two. One particularly nasty spot to the right of the 18th pin, no more than nine or ten feet from the hole, trapped several of the professionals. Indian pair Digvijay Singh and Shiv Kapur were two of a number who watched in disbelief as attempted chips from the second cut of fringe hopped no more than a foot or two into the first cut.
All the more credit then went to European Tour Rookie Michael Lorenzo-Vera of France. Last year's Challenge Tour winner finished the first round on his own on 5-under, a performance he put down to ‘better decision-making' as he gets to grips with the higher demands that the full Tour places on his game.
He is followed by a clutch of seven players on four-under, including China's own Chao Li, who put together an excellent round after an early bogey on 3. Another home player at the business-end of the leaderboard is Kang Chun Wu, two strokes behind his countryman.
The others on 4-under are Richard Finch and Zane Scotland of England, the USA's Jason Knutzon, Just Looiten of The Netherlands, the Irishman Damien McGrane, and finally England's Simon Griffiths, who followed an appalling tee shot on the 441-yard seventh by holing a dramatic five-wood carved over 200 yards out of the trees for an eagle two. This was in a run of five-under par from five through eight that took him to the turn in the lead at six-under.
Paul Lawrie, the only man in the field with a major Championship to his name, is the best-placed Scot and still well in contention at 1-under. Among other notables in the field, only David Howell, on par, will be reasonably satisfied with his day's work.
For the most part, it was a day of glum faces heading into the scorer's tent. A lot of good shots went unrewarded, and a lot of players were left feeling that their play had merited a better score. Among these was Ireland's Garry Murphy. His score of 3 over was a decent afternoon's effort, but Garry is unlikely to forget his third shot on the 4th hole – his lucky 13th.
Cushioned against the second cut of fringe, his ball was fifteen or twenty feet from the hole, leaving a shot that seemed straightforward, if tricky. However it squirted off his club face at right angles to the intended trajectory, and in fact only the edge of the fringe prevented it from rolling back into a bunker.
It was a shot that would have had many a weekend hacker doling out punishment to bag and turf, but Garry accepted it with sporting stoicism. To proponents of the old adage ‘Never up, never in', he might ruefully have replied ‘Always try to end up nearer the hole than you started'.
(David Ferguson for China.org.cn April 18, 2007)