Jazz and Carballo share clubhouse lead at Betagro Championship

The in-form Argentinian mixed his card with one eagle, six birdies and one bogey to move atop the predominantly Thai dominated leaderboard at the Suwan Golf and Country Club.

Finland’s Janne Kaske, was the only other international player in the top-10, along with ADT winners Nattawat Suvajanakorn and Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol. They were among nine players tied in third place at the Bt3,000,000 (approx. US$96,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Thailand’s Sorachut Hansapiban stole the spotlight when he aced the 12th hole with a seven-iron from 155 yards.

Round one was suspended due to lightning threats at 10.40am local time but resumed at 12.15pm local time. The delay led to the suspension of play at 6.35pm due to fading light with a total of 21 players returning to complete their rounds tomorrow.

Jazz, who missed only one fairway, traded eight birdies against a lone bogey after misjudging the direction of the wind which pushed his approach shot to the greenside bunker on the fourth hole.

“I thought it was headwind when I was standing over the ball so I clubbed up on my approach, but the wind was actually right-to-left so I ended up missing the green and missed my up-and-down for par. The wind was tricky today but I still played really well,” said the 22-year-old Jazz.

“Hole 14 was the highlight of my round when I hit a bad drive that landed in the trees. But I hit a huge cut with my 3-wood that landed just 10-feet from the hole. I played a lot of different shots today because I was confident in my swing and I knew I could be aggressive,” added the Asian Tour winner.

The 39-year-old Carballo, who has had four top-10 finishes on the ADT and finished tied-fifth in his second start on the Asian Tour last week, credited his low round to a solid iron game which led to only two missed greens in regulation.  

“I am hitting my driver and irons very well this week. The course isn’t too long for me so I took out my driver whenever I could and I only had to hit shorter irons into the greens to give myself birdie chances,” said Carballo who negotiated his way around the greens in 26 putts.

“My game has been pretty solid this season other than when I missed the cut in Bangladesh in my first start on the Asian Tour. I worked on my short game that weekend and did well in China the week after. The course is beautiful, it is my second time back in Thailand since (Asian Tour) Qualifying School. I am just enjoying my game and that’s why I played well,” added the Argentinian.

The Betagro Championship is the ninth leg on the ADT 2018 schedule and is jointly sanctioned by the All Thailand Golf Tour and the ADT. Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points are offered on all ADT events with the winner earning a total of six OWGR points while the top-six players and ties earn points on a sliding scale.

The leading five players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the Asian Tour for the 2019 season.

Ends.

Leading round one scores:

65 - Miguel CARBALLO (ARG) , Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA)

67 - Sangchai KAEWCHAROEN (THA) , Pasavee LERTVILAI (THA) , Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL (THA) , Chanachok DEJPIRATANAMONGKOL (THA) , Jaturon DUANGPHAICHOOM (THA) , Charng-Tai SUDSOM (THA) , Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA) , Janne KASKE (FIN) , Nattawat SUVAJANAKORN (THA)

68 - Wongsakorn PIKUNSAWAT (THA) , Nitithorn THIPPONG (THA) , Natipong SRITHONG (THA) , Kazuki HIGA (JPN)

69 - Supakom MEESOM (THA) , Javier GALLEGOS (ESP) , Sadom KAEWKANJANA (A) (THA) , Danthai BOONMA (THA) , Chapchai NIRAT (THA) , Itthipat BURANATANYARAT (THA) , Anura ROHANA (SRI) , Raththee SIRITHANAKUNSAK (THA) , Hein SITHU (MYN) , Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA) , Sarit SUWANNARUT (THA) , Blake SNYDER (USA) , Thammanoon SRIROJ (THA)