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Hsieh takes lead as Taiwan Open gets off to soggy start

Wet weather and poor visibility forced tournament officials to suspend play during the first round of the Acer Taiwan Open yesterday.

The suspension of play affected six groups of golfers as they slogged their way through an increasingly foggy back nine at the end of the afternoon.?

Players affected by the delay included PGA golfer Scott Hoch and the hard-charging Gary Rusnak. The suspension of play came as both players were completing the 16th hole.

Rusnak showed surprising resilience in the showery weather, firing his way to a score of 8 under par after 16 holes.

It was good enough to put him one shot behind the leader, Taiwan's Hsieh Yu-shu (謝玉樹), who carded a 9 under par earlier in the day.?

At 40-years-old, Hsieh was the surprising leader after the first day's incomplete round. Andrew Pitts scored 8-under, Arjun Atwal was on 7 under, and Thongchai Jaidee was 6 under.

Hoch may be grateful for today's respite as the wet weather seemed to affect his?otherwise consistent play.?

Hoch, who lives in sunny Florida, referred to the weather in his remarks at the gala dinner the night before.

After a very brief?speech he ended his comments with, "Lets have some good weather, and a good tournament."?

But the heavens opened and put a dampener on the one-day pro-am tournament that precedes this year's Taiwan Open and players with a late tee-off time could not escape afternoon showers.

Ten-year-old Chang Kung-Chih (張恭誌) did complete the tournament, achieving ?par? on five holes and garnering a very respectable total score of 89.
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