Thai teenager one shot off the lead at Mountain Creek Open

Joy Chakravarty 22:01 10/05/2016
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  • Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng.

    Thai teenager Witchayanon Chothirunrungrueng, more popularly known by his nickname ‘Zoom’, showed a glimpse of his precocious talent when an opening round two-under 70 left him just one shot off the pace in the inaugural Mountain Creek Open by Golf Citizen Tuesday.

    On a golf course that tested the players severely, the 19-year-old amateur raced to three-under after his first five holes. He dropped shots on successive holes on the 10th and 11th, but picked up another birdie on the 12th to finish tied second behind Spain’s Sixto Casabona-navarro.

    The leader Casabona-navarro mixed five birdies, including three on the front nine, to hit the front with a 69 on a sunny day when Sweden’s Kalle Nilsson made a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th. Nilsson holed his eight-iron tee shot from 170 yards for the first ace of his career, but it could only help him shoot a 79.

    Zoom was tied for second place in a five-man group that included his fellow Thai Changtai Sudsom, England’s Daniel Owen and Lee Corfield, and India’s Manish Goyal.

    The Thai prodigy, however, was six shots clear of Rayhan Thomas (76) in the amateur division.

    The 27-year-old Casabona-navarro, who hails from Valencia, said: “My tee-to-green game was pretty solid and I putted equally well, which kind of set the tone for the day. Every part of my game fell into place, which was good.

    “We still have two more rounds to play and if I can keep the momentum going, I think I can post a strong finish, if not a victory.”

    England’s Owen, who finished in a tie for fourth at last week’s Ras Al Khaimah, picked up from where he left, firing three birdies in his last five holes to stay in contention.

    “For me, any under-par score on this course is pretty much good job done. I played really well and created some good scoring opportunity, especially on the back nine. And I am happy with the way I finished the round,” said the 26-year-old Bahrain-based Englishman.

    India’s Goyal combined good ball striking with solid putting to string together a neat round while Thailand’s Sudsom offset four bogeys with six birdies.

    “I struck the ball very ball and didn’t miss many fairways, but it was my putting that held the round together well. It’s fun playing on this course,” said Goyal, a regular on the MENA Golf Tour.

    Fredrik Lindblom of Sweden and Venezuela’s Wolmer Murillo were tied for seventh a further shot adrift at one under, one clear of a foursome, which included the Spanish duo of Gonzalo Escauriaza and Gonzalo Escauriaza, Thailand’s Sung-Keun Kim and Stuart Archibald of England.

    An initiative of the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the MENA Golf Tour was created in 2011 with the aim of developing golf in the region. It is affiliated to R&A, the world governing body, and the Arab Golf Federation and was accorded the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) status this month.

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