Steel in the lead with Thai teen

BEIJING: Thai teenager Chinnarat Phadungsil birdied his last three holes to join Malaysia's Iain Steel as co-leader after round one of the Pine Valley Beijing Open on Thursday. Chinnarat, 19, recorded seven-under-par 65 at the par-72 Pine Valley layout to match Steel, the early pace-setter in the US$1 million (RM3.2 million) tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Chinese and Japanese tours.

Australia's Tony Carolan was a stroke back in lone third while Korean youngster Bae Sang-moon, who won last year's SK Telecom Open, was joint fourth alongside Taiwan's Lin Keng-chi and Japanese trio Hiroyuki Fujita, Takao Nagomi and Masao Nakajima.

Defending champion Gaurav Ghei of India has work to do after shooting 73 for tied 84th alongside alongside Chinese trailblazer Zhang Lian-wei.

Chinnarat was thanking his lucky stars after nailing a series of 20-foot birdie putts on the wind-swept course.

"I couldn't believe how lucky I was today (yesterday), it was amazing out there," said Chinnarat, who fired nine birdies against two bogeys.

"On the seventh hole, my drive landed in a very deep divot and my playing partner Wang (Ter-chang) said that I was really unlucky.

"I was around 130 yards away from the pin.

"I then struck a decent second shot and was 25 yards out at the edge of the green.

"I was looking for a par but the ball rolled in for birdie.

"That was how my day went."

Steel, who is of Scottish and Malaysian parentage, fired eight birdies against a lone bogey in a pleasing return to course near Beijing.

"This is my second time playing here at the Pine Valley Golf Club.

"My game wasn't sharp last year so I'm glad to be hitting it spot this week," said Steel.

"I'm not a long hitter but some of the pin placements here provide an opportunity for aggressive putts out there.

"This is the kind of positive start that I was hoping for and I am eager to continue my momentum heading into the second round." -- AFP