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Chawalit holds Indonesian lead as storms hit
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Chawalit holds Indonesian lead as storms hit

Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol remained in charge of the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open when heavy storms brought an early end to the opening day’s play at Damai Indah Golf and Country Club.

Chawalit carded six birdies in a blemish-free 65 and leads by one from another early starter, Finland’s Mikko Ilonen.

India’s Shiv Kapur, the 2005 Asian Tour Rookie of the Year, bounced back from missing the cut in Malaysia last week when he blasted five birdies against a lone bogey to tie for third place alongside Mads Vibe-Hastrup of Denmark, after both players returned 67s. The pair had been joined on four under par by Korean Jun-won Park, who had completed 12 holes when play was stopped at 5pm local time.

“The key here is to keep it on the fairway because the wind tends to pick up in the afternoon so you have to strike it quite accurately off the tee. I wasn’t driving it well off the tee last week, but I had a slight rest before coming here so I’m feeling quite good.

“I hope to win a co-sanctioned event. I won an Asian Tour event last year and winning a co-sanctioned tournament this year would be great,” commented Chawalit, who is chasing his first European Tour title at the US$1.05 million tournament.

Ilonen finished tied seventh in Malaysia last weekend and despite the obvious temperature difference from his home in Finland, he appears to have acclimatised well to golf in this part of the world.

The 27 year old, whose best result on The European Tour International Schedule was a third place in the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open almost five years ago, was delighted with his form after closing with four birdies on the homeward stretch for a round of 66.

Starting from the tenth, he opened with a birdie three and picked up further shots at the 13th, 15th, first, fourth, sixth and eighth holes against bogeys at the 12th and 16th.

He said: “It was a very good start for the week. I played very well and holed some nice putts. Scoring is going to be a lot better than last week, but the breeze we have means it will not get out of hand. If you get a still day here the course will offer you a lot of birdie chances.

“I played pretty good in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as well, and it was just a few holes that messed up my score in Dubai. Overall the game is at a higher level and I am playing with more confidence.”

After missing the cut last week, Kapur kept a steady pace in the opening round firing five birdies before dropping a shot at his penultimate hole, which pushed him down to joint third spot.

“I was in a rush this morning and did not have time to have my breakfast. But I’ve pulled through the round. Low in energy, but I managed to get a good score,” said Kapur.

Vibe-Hastrup, who is playing his first event since the Joburg Open, saw his putts on the first three greens lip out before getting his round going by holing from a bunker on the next. “It’s funny: you have all those birdie chances and don’t take them, and then you hole from a bunker. It was probably from 30 metres so it wasn’t even an easy up-and-down,” reflected the Dane.

However, the scorching sun of the morning gave way to dark clouds after lunch and at exactly 5pm the brooding sky finally gave way, depositing torrents of rain onto the course and leaving 12 groups still to complete their rounds.

Christian Cévaër of France managed to make it in before the storms and a bogey at the last saw him sign for a three under par 68, which left him in a seven-way tie for sixth spot.

The other players on that mark are the Indians S.S.P. Chowrasia and Gaurav Ghei, José-Filipe Lima of Portugal, Chapchai Nirat of Thailand, Bryan Saltus of the United States and Young-woo Nam of Korea.

Defending champion Simon Dyson shot a 70, while the most unusual round of the day came from another Englishman, Philip Golding, who started nine-three-three-three-three en route to a level par 71.

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