Eight players, including unheralded Australian Kalem Richardson who turned professional less than a year ago, shared the lead after Thursday’s first round of the OneAsia Tour Maekyung Open Golf Championship in the South Korean capital.
The leaders all shot four-under-par 68s in the $900,000 tournament at Namseoul Country Club, the third stop on a burgeoning OneAsia tour that boasts 14 events this year with a total purse of more than $16 million.
Richardson, Japan’s Koichi Kitamura, China’s Hu Mu, American Garrett Sapp, and Koreans Kang Kyung-nam, Park Sang-hyun, Kang Wook-soon and Hur In-hoi were all jostling for position at the top of the leaderboard after the opening day played in perfect conditions.
Australian Jamie Arnold is well placed in a seven-way tie – just one shot behind the leaders after shooting a 69, while Maxwell McCardle carded a 70 – one stroke ahead of countrymen Stephen Leaney and Scott Laycock.
But it was Richardson, 24, who stole the limelight in his first full OneAsia event. The Tasmanian, who calls Melbourne home, feared the worst after dismal practice rounds earlier in the week, but it all came good for him on Thursday.
“I sneaked out and played nine holes on Tuesday and then had a full practice round yesterday,” he said.
“Funnily enough, it wasn’t very good then. I didn’t play very well at all, but today was different.
“I really enjoyed myself out there today. Things just went sort of well.”
Richardson only turned pro in August and earned his spot in this week’s bumper 159-player field with a seventh-place finish in OneAsia’s Q School in January.
He is already finding life different at the top level.
“The big difference between playing as an amateur and a professional is around the greens. You just can’t afford to let anything slip around the greens. You really have to try and make everything,” he said.
“This is my first full tournament on OneAsia and I really want to do well and get the opportunity to play more.”
At the other end of the age and experience spectrum but also on top of the leaderboard was veteran Kang Wook-soon, 45, who rolled back the years with a blemish-free round.
The well-travelled Kang topped the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit in 1996 and 1998 and was also the first man to make half a million dollars on that tour in career earnings.
Defending champion Kim Kyung-tae, who also won in 2007 and was runner up in 2010, was in contention after shooting a 70.
With a cut set to the top 65 professionals and ties, there will be a lot of pressure on the field in the second round.
Thai Thaworn Wiratchant will have to improve on his 74 if he is to record back-to-back victories following his triumph in the ASEAN PGA Tour’s Luang Prabang Laos Open last weekend.
