Charl Schwartzel leads the Thailand Golf Championship after day one
Charl Schwartzel fired a seven-under par 65, to take a one-stroke lead over Thitiphun Chuayprakong, midway through the opening round of the Thailand Golf Championship,on Thursday, December 6, 2012.
The second edition of the Asian Tour event is being played at the Amata Spring Country Club, offering a total prize fund of US$1 million, to the participants.
Schwartzel, who finished tied for the third position at the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, was regarded as one of the hot favourites to record a victory in Bangkok.
The 2011 Masters champion proved his betting odds right by marking a strong start to his campaign in Thailand.
He started off with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes that he played. He then added another two shots on the sixth and the seventh hole to reach the turn in four-under.
The back nine of the course also witnessed him play decent shots, which earned him birdies on the 13th, 15th and the 17th hole.
Last year, the South African finished second on the leaderboard, after Lee Westwood outshined him with a seven-stroke margin.
This year, the 28-year-old is planning to go one spot better, by maintaining consistency in his game, over the remaining three rounds.
“It is nice to put yourself in position. You won’t win a golf tournament in the first round but you sure can lose it. I got no expectations. I feel that if I continue to play like how I did then I can find the result which I’m looking for. It is still early days to predict anything right now,” said Schwartzel.
Talking to the Asian Tour’s official website, he also expressed his pleasure in bouncing back from injuries that affected his swing technique, earlier this season.
“I’m just playing injury free and that’s allowing me to swing the club better. When you are playing with injury, you always try to protect that injury and the consequence is a bad swing,” said Schwartzel, who has yet to claim his maiden victory on the Asian Tour.
The defending champion Lee Westwood, in the meantime, carded a two-under par 70, to take the share of the 20th position on the leaderboard, midway through the first round.
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