Kiradech Aphibarnrat starts well at the Volvo China Open
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat fired a four-under par 68, to share the second spot, midway through the opening round of the Volvo China Open, on Thursday, May 2, 2013.
The European Tour event is being staged at the Binhai Lake Golf Club, featuring some of the best European Tour players from different parts of the world.
Aphibarnrat, who recorded his maiden European Tour victory earlier this year at the Maybank Malaysian Open, started off on the back nine of the course with back-to-back birdies on the 10th and the 11th hole.
He then conceded a bogey on the 13th hole, followed by recording five consecutive par putts to reach the turn in one-under.
He then picked up some pace and recorded birdies on three of the first six holes that he played on the front nine of the course.
After finishing his round, he found himself sharing the clubhouse lead that vanished later after Robert-Jan Derksen surpassed him after carding a six-under par 66.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, the Thai star stated that he was playing well for the last few weeks, which really helped him boosting his confidence in China. He now plans to remain consistent in his game and record another strong finish
in the tournament.
“I still have a lot of confidence from how I played last week (at the Ballantine’s Championship), and obviously from Malaysia,” he said. “I have played well for three or four weeks in a row now, and will try to finish high up the leaderboard again this week.
In this type of wind you don't know how you will do, but I’ll just try to do my best.”
Raphaël Jacquelin, who won the Open de España last month after going through a tough nine-hole playoff competition, also made a strong start by carding four birdies, without conceding a single bogey, to join Aphibarnrat on the leaderboard.
Talking to the reporters, he expressed his pleasure in making a decent start, and said that he will try to keep the momentum going into the remaining three rounds.
According to him, he was lucky to play his front nine before the wind started blowing on the course.
“The wind’s picking up now, so we were lucky to play seven or eight holes without much wind,” he said.
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