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Storm interrupts Singapore Open as favourites struggle

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SINGAPORE: A lightning storm cut short the first round of the Singapore Open on Thursday after three-time champion Adam Scott tumbled down the leaderboard with a triple-bogey.


The Singapore Open has been regularly interrupted by Southeast Asia’s fickle weather in recent years and almost half of the 156 entrants were unable to complete the opening round after bolts of lightning lit up the sky around the Sentosa Golf Club.


Play was stopped for two and a half hours and although the players briefly returned to the course in a vain effort to finish, play was abandoned for the day when it became too dark to continue the opening event of this year’s Asian Tour.


Hideto Tanihara and Satoshi Kodaira, both of Japan, and South Korea’s Kang Kyung-Nam shared the clubhouse lead at six-under par 65.


Tanihara, a three-time winner of the Japan Tour last year, made a flying start when he birdied his first two holes after starting at the 10th, and finished with seven birdies and a lone bogey. He was joined in the lead by Kang, who made an eagle-three at the fourth hole and iced his flawless round with a birdie at the last.


They both got the best of the early conditions, completing their rounds before the storm rolled in, while Kodaira was among the late starters, but made birdies on three of the last four holes to finish in a three-way tie for the lead.


“I flew over to Singapore right after finishing the final round on Sunday at Hawaiian Open. The jet-lag is not too bad,” Tanihara said. “I felt really comfortable with my putting as I managed to read the greens well. After last year’s experience, I know the weather changes quickly here. So I am ready for thunder and rain.”


Malaysia’s Gavin Green, Korean-born American Han Seung-Su and Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasertwere tied for fourth at five under with South Africa’s Shaun Norris and Japan’s Tadahiro Takayama a further shot back.


The tournament’s three biggest drawcards, Scott, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia, all struggled at various times in the stifling humidity, that even the local wildlife found uncomfortable, with organisers forced to remove a cobra that had slithered into a sand trap. — AFP


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