NEW DELHI: Chapchai Nirat shot a second straight 10-under 62 yesterday to extend his lead after the second round of the SAIL Open.
The 25-year-old Thai golfer has a 20-under total of 124, a new Asian Tour record at the halfway mark.
Chapchai is four strokes ahead of Mark Purser of New Zealand, a tour rookie who shot a 63 Thursday. Thailand’s Wisut Artjanawat is another stroke back in third.
Chaichai also shared the tour’s previous halfway record of 17 under with two other players.
Chapchai had 11 birdies and one bogey as he equaled the Classic Golf Resort’s course record that he set Wednesday.
“I entered this tournament to get some good practice for the European Tour where I’m going to play for the next few months. I didn’t know this outing will turn out to be so impressive,” Chapchai said. “The course is very suitable to my game, I can reach all par-fives in two strokes,” he said. “The par-four holes present birdie opportunities because they are pretty open, and my putting has been fantastic.” India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar was in fourth place on 131, while pre-tournament favorites Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand (138) and Jyoti Randhawa of India (140) seemed out of contention.
New OneAsian Tour
Meanwhile, The China Open will definitely launch the new OneAsia Tour next month, organizers and sponsors said yesterday, effectively ending its association with the established Asian Tour.
The new Asia-Pacific tour announced the $2.2 million event as the first on its six-tournament 2009 schedule last year, but the Asian Tour had vehemently opposed the move and retained it on its own schedule.
Zhang Xiaoning, director of the China Golf Association (CGA) which owns the tournament, said, however, that the event would now be co-sanctioned by the OneAsia and European Tours.
“Our future trend is to have all OneAsia Tour events in China instead of Asian Tour events,” he told reporters at a news conference.
“As for the Asian Tour, the tournaments were ours, the sponsors, everything was ours but our players got low quotas and we didn’t have many tournaments in China. Generally we didn’t get enough benefits from the Asian Tour.” The Asian Tour, when contacted by Reuters, said it would not be making an immediate comment.
Swedish carmaker Volvo, which enjoys great influence as sponsors of the China Open since its inception in 1995, also acknowledged the new era of golf in the region.
“Volvo has always enjoyed good relations with the European and the Asian Tour but we want to continue to be involved in professional golf here in China,” Per Ericsson, head of Volvo events, told the news conference.
“So I’m very much looking forward to the future.” The OneAsia Tour was launched under the provisional “super series” name by the PGA of Australia, the Korean Golf Association and PGA as well as the Chinese Golf Association late last year.
Asian Tour chief Kyi Hla Han denounced the new initiative as a “desperate attempt by the PGA of Australia to revive its flagging circuit” and accused the tour of trying to muscle in on its turf.
Three of the six tournaments on the OneAsia schedule were in China - all three previously Asian Tour events - so that always looked like being where the battle would be fought out.
“China have been one of, if not, the strongest supporters of the concept from day one,” Ben Sellenger of PGA Australia told Reuters after the news conference.
“And as you can see from today, they’ve given 120 percent backing toward growing the OneAsia platform and believe that it is the future of elite professional golf in the Asia-Pacific region.” Zhang said the number of Chinese players at the China Open, which will be played from April 16-19 at the CBD International in Beijing, could double from last year’s 14.
“I believe the OneAsia tour will further promote the development of golf in the region and provide more and better tournaments for our players,” he said.
