Rose chases leaders at storm-hit Indonesian Masters
JAKARTA: Justin Rose was hot on the heels of the leaders at the Indonesian Masters on Thursday despite having his opening round curtailed by a severe thunderstorm that forced play to be abandoned.
Former US Open champion Rose, who needs a top-15 finish in Jakarta to reclaim the number one spot in the world golf rankings, fired four birdies and an eagle before his round was cut short after 14 holes.
At five-under-par he was just one shot behind US golfer John Catlin and South Korea’s Sungho Lee, who both set the early pace at the Asian Tour’s season-ending event with opening rounds of 66.
Lightning halted play just before 4.00pm local time (0900 GMT), meaning 62 players including England’s Rose -- the defending champion -- will have to finish their first rounds on Friday.
Co-leader Catlin notched up seven birdies and one bogey in his completed round.
“The only bogey I made was on the fourth hole where the putt lipped out from about three feet,” Catlin said.
“But I’m obviously happy with a 66 on a difficult golf course.”
Sungho Lee, whose best result this season was a tied-14th finish in Taipei, bagged eight birdies for his share of the lead. Rose, the current world number two, has pledged to donate $50,000 to help with reconstruction efforts on the earthquakehit islands of Lombok and Sulawesi.
He will resume play from the 15th hole on Friday.
DISCOVERY DEAL
The European Tour and pay TV operator Discovery Inc announced a new partnership on Thursday, giving golf fans access to more than 40 tournaments annually through their on-demand video-streaming service GOLFTV.
The service, which will launch on Jan. 1 outside the United States, will have multi-platform live rights to tournaments such as Race to Dubai events, all World Golf Championships and the next two Ryder Cups in some territories.
Discovery and the PGA Tour had said in June they were teaming up in a 12-year partnership to manage the PGA Tour’s international multi-platform rights, including for television.