Golf news: Taiwanese Lu Wen-teh savours early lead in Yeangder Tournament Players Championship
Yeangder Tournament Players Championship has started with Lu Wen-teh of Taiwan rising to early lead in the first round of the event that is carrying a purse of US$300,000. He was followed by Artemio Murakami, Tannin Kwanchai, Kawane Takafumi, Iain Steel
and David Gleeson, each with a score of 68.
The Taiwanese had an edge of being on home-ground, and it was evident from his performance and ease of finding the greens. He rolled six birdies and a loner bogey on the course of Linkou International Golf Club, which is situated only six miles away from
the Hou Keng site. Lu teed-off in the back-nine and pared his first four opening holes before carding a bogey at the 14th. However, the veteran covered the lost shot by firing three consecutive birdies starting from the par-four 15th hole all the
way to the 17th. He completed the half with a score of 34.
His blaze of birdies did not stop here; he took the same energy to the front nine and birdied another three holes. Rest of the round was completed with par, which ultimately turned into an early lead. Talking to the press, Lu said that he was very pleased
with his performance, despite the age factor he had entered into. Lu is 43 years old and five-time Asian Tour winner, which is yet another achievement. He added while laughing that he was surprised with his tee-shots, which were very accurate.
According to the media reports, Lu has been working on his putting, as it was the only thing that needed practice and eventually after six years, he finally achieved the desired level. Keeping in view his confidence and game, there are prospect chances that
the player will continue with the same energy in the next round as well.
Lady luck also knocked on the at a Malaysian’s door. The player who is tied at the second place, Iain Steel is a proud father of a baby girl. He received this blessing three weeks back, and resultantly carded five birdies in the first round of the tournament.
The 39-year-old believes that arrival of a child will bring more happiness in the form of good luck to the player’s career. Steel teed-off at the back nine and posted four birdies there, followed by two bogeys and two birdies in the front nine.
As a record, Steel took a month off before the tournament, and it was a surprise that he played so well especially in the front nine. Linkou International Golf Club's front nine is filled with more than 54 bunkers and five water hazards, which means that
either a player has to be relevant with the field or he has to be tactical enough to face the challenge. As for Steel, he has never visited the venue before, and neither has he had a glamorous record in golf, therefore one can presume that the invisible hand
behind the Malaysian is that of his baby girl.
On the contrary, the other leaders of the second group gave mixed results. Murakami who earned his debut victory at the Iskandar Johor Open in 2007 carded five birdies with one bogey. He too was one of the players who were pleased with themselves, as this
round was by far the best he could deliver in the entire season. Earlier Murakami was tied at the 12th place at the Sail Open, which took place in March this year.
Kwanchai, the 24-year-old veteran from Thai carded six birdies and two bogeys to claim the second spot.
This is it for the first round of the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship, which was taking place at Linkou International Golf Club. Lu Wen-teh of Taiwan was the leader of the clan with a score of 67 followed by a group of five players at 68.
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