Date: November 08, 2012
Author: Omnisport

Green best placed Aussie in Singapore

European Tour veteran Thomas Bjorn holds the outright lead after the opening day of a weather-interrupted Singapore Open, but Australia&aposs Richard Green is within striking distance. Bjorn was out bright and early at the Sentosa Golf Club, with his impressive round of five-under 66 enough to open up a one-shot lead on a trio of players. Englishman Simon Khan, Spaniard Pablo Martin and Thailand&aposs Chinnarat Phadungsil all carded 67s to share second place, but there are a host of players who will have to come back on Friday to complete their first rounds after play was called off early. The klaxon sounded to halt play early in the afternoon with lightning strikes predicted in the area and that led to play being abandoned at 5pm local time when more thunderstorms were expected. Those players affected by the weather will have to come back at 7:30am local time on Friday to finish their opening round and there are many that will fancy their chances of bettering Bjorn&aposs 66. World number one Rory McIlroy is level par through eight holes, while European Tour regulars Simon Dyson (two under after 10 holes), Pablo Larrazabal (one under through 11), Matteo Manassero (one under through 11) and George Coetzee (one under through six) will all have time to make ground on Bjorn early on Friday. There were some big names who struggled in the afternoon conditions, however, with South African Louis Oosthuizen (two over through eight) and Italian Francesco Molinari (three over through nine) both with work to do. Green was lucky enough to get his opening round out of the way and his two-under 69 has him tied for ninth and in a good challenging position, while fellow Australian Andrew Dodt is a further shot adrift after a 70. Australia&aposs world number six Adam Scott endured a tough day on the greens and could only sign for a 71, while compatriots Rick Kulacz (74), Marcus Both (74), Darren Beck (74), Matthew Zions (76) and David Gleeson (79) all have work to do. Australians who failed to complete their opening round were Kieran Pratt (one under through eight), Marcus Fraser (one under through seven), Tim Stewart (even through 11), Scott Barr (one over through five), Darren Tan (one over through four) and Scott Hend (four over through 12). But at this stage they are all chasing Bjorn after the Dane shot six birdies and just the one bogey in his opening round. The 41-year-old from Silkeborg in Denmark was happy with how he played, especially with the way he drove the ball. “I came here and saw the golf course, and knew that everything was about driving the golf ball well,” Bjorn said. “It&aposs not the longest golf course in the world so if you can keep it in the fairway, you can produce a score, and I did that very well today. “That&aposs only Round 1, so we&aposll work from here.”