JAKARTA: South African Ernie Els struggled with jet-lag but stayed within striking distance of Thai veteran Thongchai Jaidee who took a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta yesterday.
British Open champion Els was tied fourth, four strokes behind Thongchai, after carding five birdies against three bogeys for a two-under-par 70 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club. “Today was a bit of a jet-lag day for me. I was trying to get some energy going. Hopefully, I will have more energy tomorrow. I think my game is all there. I just need to get a bit sharper mentally,” the big South African said.
“I was hoping for a better score but I didn’t quite get it. My game is not too bad. I just need to eliminate some really small mistakes.
“This is the type of course where you can get a little bit aggressive. I’m hitting the ball quite nicely so I like to stay aggressive. If I get myself in position, I will go for flags and get my putts in,” the four-times major winner said.
A confident Thongchai, three-times Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, hit a blemish-free seven-under-par 65 to move two shots ahead of Australian Scott Barr. Wade Ormsby of Australia was three shots behind the leader and Hung Chien-yao of Chinese Taipei and three more Australians, Kieran Pratt, Jake Higginbottom and Scott Hend, shared fourth place with Els.
Seven share lead at
Quail Hollow
In Charlotte, North Carolina, World No. 2 Rory McIlroy was one of seven players sharing the lead on five-under 67 on Thursday after the first round of the US PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.
The weather-damaged greens that raised concerns ahead of the tournament didn’t prevent more than 50 players from breaking par as cool, overcast weather made for good scoring conditions despite some patchy putting surfaces.
“They’re not the best greens that we’ve ever putted on, but they’re certainly not the worst, either,” said Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, who claimed his breakthrough victory on the US PGA Tour at this event in 2010 and finished runner-up to Rickie Fowler in a playoff last year.
“The ball still rolls pretty well on them,” he said.
McIlroy powered up the leaderboard with four birdies in a row starting at the par-five fifth, where he rolled in a five-footer.
He sandwiched birdies at 10 and 11 between bogeys at the ninth and 12th, but joined the group sharing the clubhouse lead with a birdie at 18.
McIlroy was joined on 67 by Ryan Moore, Robert Garrigus, Nick Watney, Nate Smith, Derek Ernst and Daniel Summerhays.
Smith qualified on Monday to make his return to a PGA Tour event for the first time since 2011, when he played in 16 events.
In five starts on the Web.com tour this year his best finish is a tie for 29th, but he briefly gained sole possession of the lead with a birdie at 16 — jumping ahead of six players in the clubhouse on 67.
However, he gave the stroke back at the 17th to settle for a share of the lead.
Phil Mickelson, who finished second behind McIlroy in 2010, was among six players tied on 68, along with 2011 Quail Hollow winner Lucas Glover, Boo Weekley, Zach Johnson, Kevin Streelman and Jason Kokrak.
