Thomas Björn leads after suspended round one of the Barclays Singapore Open
Thomas Björn fired a five-under par 66 in the opening round of the Barclays Singapore Open, to take the clubhouse lead, before the inclement weather suspended the game, on Thursday, November 8, 2012.
The US$6 million tournament is being played at the Serapong Golf Club, and is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour.
Starting off on the back nine of the course, the 41-year-old Dane birdied the opening hole, prior to adding another shot on the 16th hole to reach the turn in two-under.
He made a similar start to his back nine campaign (front nine of the course), as he recorded a birdie on the first hole.
He then conceded a bogey on the third hole but bounced back strongly with three birdies over the next five holes that he played.
At the end of his round, he found himself leading the event by one-stroke. Simon Khan, Pablo Martin and Chinnarat Phadungsil tied for the second spot at a four-under par score.
Talking to the European Tour’s Official Website, Björn expressed his pleasure on being in contention, right from the beginning of the tournament.
Last year, the Dane recorded three European Tour victories. However, he lost his winning momentum in 2012. He has yet to finish on top of the leaderboard in any of the European Tour events this season.
He is now hoping to maintain his form in the remaining three rounds, in a bid to raise the first European Tour trophy of his 2012 campaign.
According to him, a good driving technique will be the key to success at the Serapong Golf Club.
He said that it was really easy to find the fairways and, in turn, to create birdie chances. Therefore, one can expect low scores coming their way during the tournament.
“I came here and saw the golf course, and knew that everything was about driving the golf ball well,” said the 13-time European Tour winner.
“You can keep it in the fairway, you can produce a score, and I did that very well today. That's only round one, so we'll work from here”.
He added, “I always enjoy coming to Singapore and Malaysia. You have got to pace yourself a little bit and not use too much energy through the week. It is about playing golf this week, and quite nice for the body to be feeling warm and nice out there”.
Khan, in the meantime, played really well on the first 15 holes and turned in a five-under par score, entering the last three holes.
However, bogeys on the 16th and the 18th hole pushed him back to the share of the second place on the leaderboard.
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