Thaworn fires into clubhouse lead with a 66 on a rain-hit day at Santiburi
Samui Former champion Thaworn Wiratchant proved why he has triumphed twice before at the Santiburi Samui Country Club, firing an error-free 66 for the joint lead with American Sam Chien in the rain-interrupted US$300,000 Queen’s Cup Samui Golf Tournament
The off-form 49-year-old, who lifted the prestigious trophy in 2012 and 2014, played some of his best golf this year to sink four birdies on the back nine, where he started, before picking up one more on the fourth hole to build one-stroke lead along with Chien.
The American was five-under with one hole to finish when rain suspended play. The first round will resume at 6.30 this morning.
“I didn’t expect to play well as I’ve been sick since Monday. I couldn’t even practice on Monday and had some light practice on Tuesday. But I got off to a good start with a birdie and the momentum kept going from then on,” said Thaworn, who has yet to finish inside the top 50 on the Asian Tour this year.
In a serious bid to regain the top form that made him No 1 on the Asian Tour in 2005 and 2012, the veteran brought along all his sets of irons and worked on each one, only to find out that the old one suited him best.
“I’ve been trying hard to improve my game. I’ve been working hard on my irons, and have used many different sets recently. I’ve now gone back to old irons, which I played well with before and won tournaments. I have a good feeling with this old set of clubs,” said Thaworn, who feels that an accurate tee shot is the key to keeping scores low on this monstrous course.
“If you tee off well, you won’t go out of the fairways. You set yourself in a good position to score birdies. Bad tee-offs will lead to bogeys,” Thaworn added.
Gunn Charoenkul, 24, sank his approach shot on the first hole for an eagle before adding three birdies against a bogey for a 68, which was his best round at Santiburi, nicknamed the Beast of Samui for its difficulty.
“This is probably my best round here in five years. I had a great opening hole, hit an eagle on the first and I managed to keep the momentum going with a par save on two,” said Gunn.
“There was a branch in my line but I went for it. I thought if I hit a full 52 degree wedge, even if I hit it over, I would be safe as the pin was in front. My ball grazed the branch a bit, and l saw it make the front of the green and when I walked up, I couldn’t find it. ... Looked into the hole and there it was!”
Spaniard Carlos Pigem and Thais Jazz Janewattananond and Wanich Petcharit were also four under with three, two and six holes to play before the rain interruption.
