Arnond Vongvanij withdraws from the Thailand Golf Championship
The winner of last week’s King’s Cup, Arnond Vongvanij, announced his withdrawal from the Thailand Golf Championship after he hurt his back during the first round, at the Amata Spring Country Club, on Thursday, December 6, 2012.
The Thai youngster, who tasted success for the first time in his professional career in last week’s Asian Tour event, played 12 holes, prior to announcing his retirement from the event.
Talking to the Asian Tour’s official website, he revealed that he injured his back midway through the practice round on Wednesday.
“I felt the pain midway at the pro-am on Wednesday. I didn’t think it was serious so I had the physiotherapist massage my back. I think they might have worked on it too much and I think my back was inflamed. So I took medication to get better today,” he said.
He added, “I played the first 12 holes with some pain. I thought after a couple of holes, the heat would loosen it up but it didn’t”.
He also confirmed that he felt severe pain in his back after he made a bunker shot on the 12th hole, his 3rd. He told that the swing twisted his back, causing strain in his back.
“With that bunker shot, everything just locked up and when I completed the back swing, my back experienced spasm and pain,” he said.
While Vongvanij was faltering on the course because of the injury, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa surged to the top of the leaderboard with a seven-under par 65.
Schwartzel, who is looking to grab his maiden Asian Tour title, said that he was pleased with his performance on day one.
However, there is a lot to come in the coming three days where the 2011 Masters champion will have to maintain consistency in his game, in a bid to remain on top of the leaderboard.
Last year, he missed out on the chance of winning the first edition of the tournament, after Lee Westwood imposed the defeat on him. Westwood carded a 22-under par tournament score in reply to Schwartzel’s 15-under par overall score.
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