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Star players expect exciting week at Indonesia Open
All to play for: Asian Tour CEO Mike Kerr (from left), Thailandâs Thongchai Jaidee, South Africaâs Retief Goosen, Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) chairman Arifin Panigoro, Indonesiaâs golf number one, Rory Hie, and Spainâs Pablo Larrazabal attend a press conference on Tuesday prior to the 2013 Indonesia Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday, at the Pantai Indah Kapuk golf club
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All to play for: Asian Tour CEO Mike Kerr (from left), Thailandâs Thongchai Jaidee, South Africaâs Retief Goosen, Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) chairman Arifin Panigoro, Indonesiaâs golf number one, Rory Hie, and Spainâs Pablo Larrazabal attend a press conference on Tuesday prior to the 2013 Indonesia Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday, at the Pantai Indah Kapuk golf club. (Courtesy of Asian Tour) (from left), Thailandâs Thongchai Jaidee, South Africaâs Retief Goosen, Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) chairman Arifin Panigoro, Indonesiaâs golf number one, Rory Hie, and Spainâs Pablo Larrazabal attend a press conference on Tuesday prior to the 2013 Indonesia Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday, at the Pantai Indah Kapuk golf club. (Courtesy of Asian Tour)
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span class="inline inline-none">All to play for: Asian Tour CEO Mike Kerr (from left), Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, South Africa's Retief Goosen, Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) chairman Arifin Panigoro, Indonesia's golf number one, Rory Hie, and Spain's Pablo Larrazabal attend a press conference on Tuesday prior to the 2013 Indonesia Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday, at the Pantai Indah Kapuk golf club. (Courtesy of Asian Tour)
An exciting week is anticipated at the 2013 Indonesia Open, which starts on Thursday at the Pantai
Indah Kapuk golf club in North Jakarta, with a star line-up competing for US$750,000 in prize money.
'I've always enjoyed playing in Asia and it's my first time playing in Jakarta this week. It's nice, and I like the warm weather here,' Retief Goosen of South Africa told a press conference on Tuesday.
The two-time US Open winner Goosen hopes he will find his feet again after struggling with a serious back injury for over a year.
'I've had some problems with my back and I've not played much golf since last year. I think I only played one month of golf last year. I'm feeling good now. I started playing again about a month ago,' he said.
'Last week at the South African Open, I felt like my swing is coming back a little bit. I just need to start making some putts. Overall, I'm very happy with the way I've recovered from the surgery. I'm feeling good right now and I'm looking forward to playing,' said Goosen, whose last victory on the Asian Tour was the Iskandar Johor Open back in 2008.
The 44-year-old Goosen will headline the tournament with Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal, Thai veteran Thongchai Jaidee, China's Liang Wen-chong and local star Rory Hie.
Larrazabal, who recorded two top-10 finishes in Portugal and Shanghai in October, hopes to maintain his good form in this tournament. 'I will definitely try my best and hopefully I can beat these superstars. A year without any win is not a great year. This year was not too bad. I played good golf,' he said.
'I love to challenge the top stars and they motivate me to play better too. I need to work on my driving as I've been missing a lot of fairways and I didn't score as well as I wanted to,' he added.
Indonesia's No. 1 golfer Hie, expects he can represent his country better this time.
'I need about 30 grand to save my Asian Tour card. It will be pretty spectacular if I can save my tour card this year given the limited events that I can play in. It will be a dream week if I can win though,' he said, adding that he was pretty confident this time around.
'I'm hitting the ball very well and I'm getting better as the season progresses. Hopefully I can put it together. You need to putt well here and control your ball flight because there's a lot of wind. That will be a big factor this week.'
The Indonesia Open, which started in 1974, is the oldest Indonesian golf tournament. Last year the tournament was co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour and the Japan Golf Tour before being included in the Asian Tour schedule this year.
