Flawless Rattanon surges two ahead at Myanmar Open
YANGON: Thailand’s Rattanon Wannasrichan delivered a short game masterclass by firing a flawless six-under-par 65 to set the early pace at the Myanmar Open yesterday.
The 22-year-old Thai displayed the form that led him to his maiden victory on home soil last year by cruising through with a sparkling first round, which was highlighted by six birdies at the Pun Hlaing Golf Club.
Myanmar’s Naing Naing Lin showed why he is the country’s top player when he returned with a 67 to trail Rattanon by two shots. He was among the five players bunched in tied-second place, which also included 2016 champion Shaun Norris of South Africa.
Lin, a fatherof-two, believes it is his combination of skills and luck that brought him close to the leaderboard summit while Norris relished another happy return to Myanmar at the US$750,000 event, which is sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).
“The course conditions are almost similar to last year,” said Rattanon, who earned his maiden breakthrough on the Asian Tour with a wire-to-wire victory at the Thailand Open in May last year.
“The greens are very hard and fast. You got to be really accurate off the tee here. I putted well and that was key.”
Poom Saksansin and Pavit Tangkamolprasert shot matching 68s to share seventh place with 10 other players including the 2012 champion Kieran Pratt of Australia.
Star attraction Ryo Ishikawa of Japan posted an opening 70 to take a share of 34th place, five shots back of Rattanon.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Par-71)
65 — Rattanon Wannasrichan (THA) 67 — Lin Naing Naing (MYN), Shaun Norris (RSA), David Oh (USA), Masahiro Kawamura (JPN), Han Seung-Su (USA)
68 — Berry Henson (USA), Casey O’Toole (USA), Kieran Pratt (AUS), Lionel Weber (FRA), Poom Saksansin (THA), Park Jun-Won (KOR), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Scott Vincent (ZIM), Paul Peterson (USA), Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA), Mikumu Horikawa (JPN), Keith Horne (RSA)
69 — Toru Nakajima (JPN), Chikkarangappa S (IND), Natipong Srithong (THA), Kodai Ichihara (JPN), Liu Yan-wei (CHN), Yuta Ikeda (JPN), Kim Hyung-Sung (KOR), Satoshi Kodaira (JPN), Micah Lauren Shin (USA), Shunya Keyasu (JPN), Prom Meesawat (THA), Tatsuya Kodai (JPN), Miguel Tabuena (PHI), Richard T Lee (CAN), Kim Sih-Wan (USA)