SCORESHEET

August 13th 2009, Samui, Thailand: Thailand’s rising star Kiradech Aphibarnrat soared on an eagle’s wings to tie Korea’s Lee Sung for the first round lead at the Queen’s Cup on Thursday.

The 20-year-old talent showed he was over last week’s disappointment of finishing second in Malaysia by shooting a six-under-par 65 at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in the US$300,000 event, which is making its Asian Tour debut.

Lee, who was born deaf, renewed his love-affair with the challenging course, nicknamed the Beast of Samui, by setting the pace in the morning with eight birdies against two bogeys.

Kiradech’s compatriot Chinnarat Phadungsil, a two-time Asian Tour winner and still only 20, kept up the Thai assault with an equally impressive 66 for joint second place with Chinese Taipei’s Sung Mao-chang and South African Jbe Kruger.

Last week’s Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters winner, Rick Kulacz of Australia, maintained his solid form, producing a 68 which left him three off the pace with amongst others, Mars Pucay of the Philippines, England’s Steven Tiley and Japan’s Yoshinobu Tsukada.

The burly Kiradech closed his round in style, nailing a blistering five iron approach to five feet of the flag at the par five 18th hole for an eagle. “Last week, I was happy as I played very good golf. But Rick shot eight under and he’s supposed to win. Today, I’ve started with a six under round and I’ve kept to the game plan which is very good,” said Kiradech.

The Thai, whose grip it-and-rip it style has attracted many fans, conceded it was tough to hold back on his aggressive style of play on a course which requires more precision than brute force.

“I have to change my strategy. If you miss your driver here, you can shoot a five, six or seven. I used my driver only on five holes and it’s difficult as my style is to hit driver everywhere. I don’t care if there is OB or water but as a pro now, it’s slightly different and we have to come up with a game plan,” he said.

Lee was happy to feature on the leaderboard at the venue which saw him claim his maiden Asian Tour title at the Bangkok Airways Open two years ago. He credited a hot putter for his strong start.

“My putting wasn’t up to mark in Brunei and Selangor and I missed the cut. But this week, everything feels good again. We have been eating Korean food every day in Samui, so that helps!” said Lee, who communicates by lip-reading with his father.

He stumbled with one three-putt on the par three 15th hole but did not miss anything else from inside of six feet. “I’m feeling good in Samui as I have won on this course before. I feel I can win again but I will need my putting to work for all four days,” said Lee.

The 30-year-old Sung, who helped Chinese Taipei win the team gold medal in the 2002 Asian Games, has failed to live up to his early promise in the play-for-pay ranks, registering only two top-10s over the past six years.

However, regular practice rounds with old hand Lu Chien-soon, a multiple winner of national Opens across Asia, has done his game a world of good. Sung chipped in twice on the seventh and 10th holes for two of his seven birdies. “Mr Lu has been telling me that I need to be mentally stronger. He has told me to put less pressure on my game and to take a more relaxed attitude,” said Sung.

Kruger, playing in his rookie season on the Asian Tour, crept up the leaderboard late in the day and was delighted with his start. “My ball striking has been the best that it has been over the past four weeks. I hit the ball unbelievably well. I missed like one or two greens and hit it inside 20 feet all the time. However, I missed like six putts from inside 15 feet … you just need to make those to win,” said the slightly built South African.