After several weeks of overseas domination, Asian golfers are hoping to make an impact at the World Cup in Mission Hills, China.
With Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez winning in Hong Kong and American Phil Mickelson at the HSBC Champions event, golfers from Asia are eager to show what they can do against some of the best parings in the world.
At least they will be on familiar ground at the Mission Hills Golf complex in Shenzhen, China – the world’s largest golfing facility.
After the first round, it appears that Thailand’s European Tour regular Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng have put themselves in a strong position after an opening 63.
That was two shots behind the leading American pair of Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum, who combined for 61.
Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka were second with 62.
The Thais share third place with some strong teams, including Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren, South Africans Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman and the favourites, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, from England.
Lurking close by is the Korean duo of Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho, who are on 65 with Italy, Denmark, Holland, India, Argentina and China.
Thongchai, who once jumped off military planes as a paratrooper with the Thai army, said he enjoyed talking with Prayad throughout the round because they two have not met up in a long time.
Thongchai made six birdies in the better-ball contest and told the Asian Tour website:
“We were talking about jokes all the time. We talked about everything out there. We were just catching up as we’ve played in different events mostly this season.â€
The first and third rounds feature the fourball (better ball) format while the second and final rounds will see the pairs competing with the alternate shot system.
thanks for the words of encouragement.had a 53 43 on the last 18 I played. I am playing a long course tomorrow. I have not had the time to learn the new break and side shift but I am fixing to get in to it. My game is beginning to feel a little different. I made my last run in the big truck today. I have 28 years and 4 million miles behind the wheel. I think that it is time for me to get out of it and do what I want to do for a change.
Later Jim
Hi Jm, I too am a retired artic driver and, like you my game had hit the pits. When I read about the four magic moves I thought “here we go again, another quick fix” so to give my mates a laugh I tried the backward wrist break from cold, on the first tee, having not picked a club up for a week and certainly not practicing the early break, and let fly, what followed shocked my pals into silence and left me thinking “what did I do”, my drive whent 20 yards further than I have ever hit it and finished just left of centre of the fairway thanks to a touch of “draw” which I did not expect because I’ve never managed to do that before. So far I have’nt done anything else but the early break (I’ve won 1 club comp) and now that feels natural (after about 3 weeks playing once a week) I am now working on the hip slide to start the downswing, early results seem very favourable. Keep in touch and GOOD LUCK, IT WORKS
Hello Andy; I apoligize for not letting you know how I hav been doing on the course. I have just about been through the whole thng in the last three days and am just fixing to get real serious about trying to learn the new way to approach the game. My game was just a radical mess and it just got worse when I tried to change over. I am retiring from driving a semi the 30th of Nov and I will have a lot more time. I have been going to the golf course once a week for the last month and tomorrow I will start trying to play the game the right way. Wish me luck. I hope that I find the new game soon. I am cerainly trying to learn all that I can. I will get back to let you know how I am doing. The biggest problem I have is my driver and if I can get consistent with it I think that my game will come back. I played in the low 80s for a while and then quit the game when I started driving. I hope that I find my game again soon. Thanks for all the help so far and I will get back in touch soon.
Thanks
Jim Baskin
🙂