Wang and Higa Set Blistering Early Pace

Kasugai, Aichi, Japan: Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan produced a faultless performance to earn a share of the opening round lead with home favourite Kazuki Higa as golf joined the party at the 20th Asian Games.

Aided by an eagle-two at the fifth hole, Wang returned a bogey-free five-under-par 65 at the Kasugai Country Club’s East Course in Aichi Prefecture.

Higa, last year’s Asian Tour Order of Merit champion, was six-under through 16 but dropped his only stroke of the day at the 506-yard, par-four 17th, statistically the most difficult hole on the course.

Heading into Thursday’s second round, Wang and Higa hold a one-stroke lead from Indian Saptak Talwar, Korean Mun Do-yeob, China’s Sampson Zheng Yunhe and Japan’s Keita Nakajima.

A further stroke back in joint seventh are China’s Ding Wenyi and Korean Tom Kim Joo-hyung, the highest-rated player in the 66-strong men’s field at 32nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Hong Kong China’s Taichi Kho began his quest for back-to-back individual gold medals with a one-under 69. The highlight of his round came at the par-three seventh where he holed his seven-iron tee shot from 183 yards.

In the team event in which the best two daily scores in each three-man team are counted, Japan leads the way on nine-under 131, courtesy of Higa’s 65 and Nakajima’s 66.

Two strokes back in joint second are Korea and China with Chinese Taipei fourth on 136.

Wang, who celebrated his 27th birthday last Sunday, lived upto his reputation as one of golf’s longest hitters, averaging 320 yards off the tee.

Following a perfect drive at the 441-yard fifth, he holed out with a 52-degree wedge from 113 yards.

“I hit it pretty good. I didn’t see it go in because the green is elevated, but my wife and dad were at the green cheering,” said Wang, who is representing Chinese Taipei for the third time at the Asian Games.

“The first two times, I was a little bit nervous. But this time, I’m just playing with freedom, like normal. I’m pretty excited for this week,” he added.

Also feeling excited is Higa, especially at the prospect of challenging for the team gold with Nakajima and amateur Taishi Moto, the third member of the Japanese team.

“It’s a great start for us. It’s up to the two professional players – me and Keita – to lead, so that Taishi can play freely. He struggled today (74) but we have three more days, so he can try whatever he wants to do. We back him,” said Higa, who is encouraging Japanese fans to support their medal bid.

“There were many fans cheering us. I want to see more of them come out this week to cheer for Team Japan.”

First-Round Scores

Men’s Individual

65 – Wang Wei-hsuan (Chinese Taipei); Kazuki Higa (Japan)
66 – Saptak Talwar (India); Mun Do-yeob (Korea); Sampson Zheng Yunhe (China); Keita Nakajima (Japan)
67 – Tom Kim Joo-hyung (Korea); Ding Wenyi (China)
68 – Jonathan Wijono (Indonesia); Kim Seong-hyeon (Korea); Matthew Cheung (Hong Kong China); Justin De Los Santos (Philippines)
69 – Si Ngai (Macau); Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam); Siddikur Rahman (Bangladesh); Carl Corpus (Philippines); Taichi Kho (Hong Kong China)
70 – Subash Tamang (Nepal); Hiroshi Tai (Singapore); Jin Zihao (China); Sadom Kaewkanjana (Thailand); Miguel Tabuena (Philippines)

Selected Scores

71 – Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam)
72 – Pongsapak ‘Fifa’ Laopakdee (Thailand)
74 – Taishi Moto (Japan)

Men’s Team

131 – Japan
133 – Korea; China
136 – Chinese Taipei
137 – Philippines; India; Hong Kong China
139 – Indonesia
140 – Bangladesh; Vietnam
142 – Thailand; Singapore
144 – Macao China
146 – Nepal
147 – Sri Lanka
148 – Qatar
149 – Uzbekistan
152 – United Arab Emirates
169 – Palestine
172 – Kazakhstan
174 – Mongolia