Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol carded a blemish-free round of six under par 65 to take the early first round lead at the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open on Thursday.
Chawalit took charge with six birdies and was followed closely by Finland’s Mikko Ilonen, who was a stroke adrift at the Damai Indah Golf and Country Club. India’s Shiv Kapur, the 2005 Asian Tour Rookie of the Year, bounced back from missing the cut in Malaysia 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 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.
Defending champion Simon Dyson of England shot a 70, which was good enough for joint tenth place at the end of the morning session.
The most unusual round of the morning came from another Englishman, Philip Golding, who started nine-three-three-three-three en route to a level par 71.
