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Taiwan's 15-year-old Pan leads Asiad men's golf
2006-12-09
Taiwan's 15-year-old Pan Cheng-Tsung has battled occasional showers and desert winds to fire a six-under-par 66 for a two-stroke lead in the first round in the Asian Games men's golf tournament here. The bad weather didn't bother many in the 72-strong field with 21 of them holing out under par on the par-72, 7,122-yard Doha Golf Club course, home to the Qatar Masters since 1998. Pan rolled in eight birdies against two bogeys while 27-year-old Jay Bayron of the Philippines joined three teenagers, Yuki Ito from Japan and South Koreans Kang Sung-Hoon and Kim Kyung-Jyung, one stroke behind at 68. Two South Koreans with the same name, Kim Do-Hoon, both 17, were bunched at 69 with Taiwan's Chan Shin-Chang, Anirban Lhiri Lahiri of India and Malaysia's Ben Leong Bayron said the weather was not a problem after shooting five birdies against one bogey Friday. "We all had to play under the same conditions." Kang, 19, who recently finished fifth at the Eisenhower Trophy Men's World Amateur Championships in South Africa, doubled boged on the par-three third hole where he mis-chipped. "Today, I had some (mental) blocks. Tomorrow, I will try to shoot straighter." Ito, a 19-year-old college student, said he was steady on his putting but that "the lines on the greens were very difficult on all holes." Winning the Asian Games gold medal has traditionally been a spiringboard to a professional career. Last year's winner Shiv Kapur of India is now a leading player on the Asian Tour while the three winners before that -- Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, Kaname Yokoo and Tomohiro Kondo -- are all now starring on the international scene.
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