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Chan shares early lead with Bjorn at Indonesian Masters
Out of danger: Lee Westwood of England follows his chip from a bunker during the first round of the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters golf championship at the Jakarta Royale Golf Club in Jakarta on Thursday
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span class="inline inline-center">Out of danger: Lee Westwood of England follows his chip from a bunker during the first round of the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters golf championship at the Jakarta Royale Golf Club in Jakarta on Thursday. JP/Awo
Chan Shih-chang of Taipei made his mark on the first day of the 2015 CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters with a six-under-par 66 to share the lead with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn on Thursday.
Bjorn, who is seeking his first win in Asia, overcame the hot and humid conditions at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club by trading seven birdies against one bogey for a 66 while India's Abhijit Chadha, who had the honor of holing the tournament's first hole-in-one at the par-three 15, signed for a 67, to trail the morning leaders by one.
Chan came off the blocks quickly by reaching the turn in 32 after four birdies.
The 28-year-old continued his birdie sprint on 12 and 14 before dropping his only shot of the day on 16. However, he redeemed himself quickly with a closing birdie.
'I've won four times on the ADT [Asian Development Tour] and I'm really serious about winning on the Asian Tour now,' Chan said.
'I hope to bring my wealth of experience, playing and winning on the ADT to the Asian Tour. It's definitely a big step up for me and I'm looking forward to my breakthrough,' he added.
Bjorn looked pleased, especially with his run on the back-nine holes.
'I played pretty solid and I got onto a nice run in my back-nine, which kind of brought the round to a really good score,' he said.
Bjorn boasts 21 professional victories worldwide, including 15 on the European Tour.
'It was humid but nice in the morning, especially the first 10 to 11 holes. You've got to focus really hard and not let your guard down here,' said the big Dane.
Chadha, who secured his Tour card at Qualifying School, received a timely confidence booster when he aced the 15th hole with his six-iron.
The hole-in-one set the Indian on his way to a promising start when he would go on to mark his card with four birdies and one bogey.
'It was good today. I started off well by getting a hole-in-one on the 15th and that really kept myself in it. I hit a six-iron, aimed straight at the flag and it went right into the hole,' he said.
'I've made a hole-in-one in my career but this is really special as I've made it on the Asian Tour. That gave me lots of confidence, not only for the rest of the round but the entire week ahead,' he added.
Meanwhile local golfer George Gandranata was only able to finish seven-over 79.
'It's a tough day for me. The wind was really strong today and my bad putting and slow adjustment sums it up,' he said. 'I missed the green several times in back nine and misjudged the distance several times.' he said.
Despite discouraging results on the first day, George is still upbeat about his chance of making the cut tomorrow. 'I'll play more aggressive tomorrow. I need to score at least four-under tomorrow. It's doable. This is not the first time I've encountered this scenario,' he said.
Sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour of Indonesia, the US$750,000 CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters presented by Enjoy Jakarta Golf features 24 Indonesian golfers, 20 professionals from the PGA Tour of Indonesia and four of Indonesia's top amateurs who will compete in the 150 player field over 72 holes of individual stroke play.
