Veerman sets early pace at Queen’s Cup
American Johannes Veerman produced the fireworks with a magnificent eight-underpar 62 to lead by three shots at the Queen’s Cup hosted by Jaidee Foundation yesterday.
The 26-year-old Veerman, who was crowned the Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit champion in 2016, rode on a hot putter at the US$500,000 event to put up a near-perfect round which included one eagle and seven birdies against a lone bogey at the Legacy Golf Club.
Starting from the 10th hole, Veerman took advantage of the calm morning conditions to nail a pair of birdies on 12th and 13th before pulling away with five straight birdies from the 15th hole. He dropped a shot for his only blemish of the day on the par-three fifth but bounced back swiftly with an eagle-three on the next, sinking a 20-footer.
“My round overall was pretty good, it was one of the those rounds that just came out of nowhere. I have been playing decently and today everything just came together,” said Veerman, who is chasing his breakthrough victory on the Asian Tour.
“When I started this morning there wasn’t whole lot of wind, I made some birdies and got some momentum and then it just kept rolling. I had a string of birdies that started on the 15th. I was making everything from inside 15-feet which helped a lot.”
Defending champion Jazz Janewattananond also got off to a brilliant start with a 65 highlighted by an eagle on hole 15 after sticking his approach to three feet.
“Honestly overall my game wasn’t that great. There wasn’t anything exceptional about today. I missed a couple of short putts and didn’t hit it that great. I was just trying to keep myself steady all round and put up a decent score,” said Jazz.
“The highlight of my round would have to be hole 15, I hit my approach to about three feet with my 5-wood and made the putt for eagle. Sang-Hyun [Park] also made an eagle on that hole from off the green when he chipped in.”
The Thai took a share of second place with compatriots Thaworn Wiratchant and Kosuke Hamamoto, as well as Miguel Tabuena of Philippines.
Thai prodigy Phachara Khongwatmai, placed 54th on the Habitat for Humanity Standings and among those fighting to keep their cards for 2019, is among the seven players bunched in tied-sixth following matching 66s.
The event, held in honour of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, is celebrating its 11th edition this week.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Par-72, Thai unless stated)
62 — Johannes Veerman (USA)
65 — Kosuke Hamamoto; Thaworn Wiratchant, Miguel Tabuena (PHI), Jazz Janewattananond
66 — Phachara Khongwatmai, Natipong Srithong, Kammalas Namuangruk, Pawin Ingkhapradit, Amardip Malik (IND), Vanchai Luangnitikul, Suradit Yongcharoenchai 67 — Peradol Panyathanasedh, Kim Gi-Hwan (KOR), Lu Wei-chih (TPE), Pavit Tangkamolprasert, Ben Leong (MAS), Ratchapol Jantavara, Philip Matsson, Pelle Edberg (SWE)
68 — Suttijet Kooratanapisan, Kim Si-Hwan (KOR), Sarit Suwannarut, Cho Rak-Hyun (USA), Wang wei-lun (TPE), Masaru Takahashi (JPN), Chanachok Dejpiratanamongkol, Sajawat Sriprasit, Rashid Khan (IND), Anthony Kang (USA), Lin Wen-tang (TPE), Kshitij Naveed Kaul (IND), Wongsakorn Choowong, Udorn Duangdecha, Supakrit Rattanakamphol, Hong SoonSang (KOR), M Dharma (IND)