Australian Andrew Tampion, who admits he is “having a ball” after winning a place on The European Tour through the Qualifying School last November, felt his excitement reach new peaks on Friday as he climbed atop the leaderboard at the Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open 2007, although 32 players have still to complete their second rounds.
Among those who will have to return early on Saturday morning is flying Finn Mikko Ilonen, who has one hole to complete and is currently tied with Tampion on eight under par.
Ilonen started the day in second place after an opening round of five under par 66 and was three under for 17 holes of his second round when play was abandoned due to darkness.
Storm delays have prevented each of the first two rounds from being completed on schedule and Tampion will certainly understand Ilonen’s predicament.
The young Australian had to wake early on Friday in order to play 22 holes and by nightfall he found himself with a three stroke clubhouse lead over India’s Gaurav Ghei, Chapchai Nirat of Thailand and the Korean duo of Nam Young-woo and Suk Jong-yul.
Tampion completed the final four holes of his first round in level par and after a short break returned to the course to fire a five under par 66, which contained six birdies against a lone bogey, for a halfway aggregate of eight under par 134.
“I’ve been up since four o’clock this morning so it’s been a long day, but I’m delighted as I hit the ball well and putted great,” declared Tampion.
“Playing 22 holes was tiring, but I am sort of used to it. Just coming out of amateur golf I have played a lot of tournaments where I have played 36 holes in a day. I’ve also played a couple of tournaments in Asia so you get used to it, although I do not think I would want to do it every day!”
The 22 year old from Melbourne relinquished his amateur status after becoming one of only six players to successfully negotiate all three stages of The European Tour Qualifying School last year.
He made his professional Tour debut at the Mastercard Masters, finishing 60th, and then played twice on the three event swing in South Africa, missing the cut at Leopard Creek and finishing tied 56th at Humewood Golf Club.
“I’ve been having a ball to be honest. This is only my fourth event on The European Tour and I am looking forward to some successful years to come.
“I have been practising pretty hard and I’ve been playing well. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and today was one of those days when it happened. Tomorrow I will go out there and try to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I’m hitting the ball really well and I’m starting to hole some putts. There are a lot of guys out there still in contention and in 36 holes anything can happen,” added Tampion.
Suk carded a 68 to climb to five under par 137 alongside Ghei (69), Nirat (69) and compatriot Nam, who despite making a late arrival on Thursday has carded rounds of 68 and 69 in the US$1.05 million event co-sanctioned by The European Tour and Asian Tour. A stroke further back, on four under par, are Challenge Tour graduates Gareth Davies of England and Alexander Noren of Sweden, who have Australian Scott Strange for company.
The 33-year-old Nam said: “I came out here to enjoy myself and I do not want to put any pressure on myself anymore. I didn’t miss too many fairways and my irons are pretty solid. I was just playing it good out there.
“But I wasn’t really prepared coming here. I had to attend my friends’ wedding on Wednesday night in Korea. So I took the night flight out and got into Bangkok at 1:30 in the morning and I transferred from Bangkok to here, and I got in at 6:30 in the morning yesterday. I had to report in, teed it up at 11 and went out in the first round.
“I was tired last night. This doesn’t happen all the time and I was fortunate. It’s a joke really. You don’t come into a big event unprepared like this and then shoot a good score. But I struck to my routine and use what I’ve learnt, so it helped.”
Lack of preparation has certainly not been Ilonen’s problem and the hard hours on the practice range are starting to pay off for the 27 year old. After a finish of tied seventh in Malaysia last week, he now finds himself at the top in Indonesia.
He said: “I would have liked to finish my round off, but overall it’s a nice position to be in. I putted very well today and only really missed one, at the sixth hole, but that was probably still from two to three metres. I hit some loose shots out there but recovered well.”
