Australia’s Peter Cooke seized the first round lead after firing an impressive five-under-par 66 at the Macau Open 2009 yesterday.
The 24-year-old posted seven birdies against two bogeys to take a one-stroke lead over compatriot Andrew Dodt, South Africa’s Keith Horne and 10-time Asian Tour winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand who returned with matching 67s.
Australian Gavin Flint together with the Philippines’ Angelo Que, Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Thailand and Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang were among the eight players bunched in fifth place after posting identical 68s at the par-71 Macau Golf & Country Club.
Cooke, who works as a baggage handler at Adelaide airport, got off to a bright start when he sank four consecutive birdies starting from the fifth hole to hold a one-stroke advantage in the US500,000 Asian Tour event.
“I treated the game differently as I don’t feel tense out there anymore. I have to maintain my positive attitude and continue holing my putts. I have been working hard on my wedge play and it worked for me,” Cooke said.
Horne, chasing his maiden title on the Asian Tour, fired four birdies in his blemish free round which included a 30-foot downhill birdie putt that kept him within a stroke of Cooke.
Thaworn continued his rich vein of form from Switzerland where he finished in tied 11th at the Omega European Masters last week. The Thai posted four birdies and two bogeys as well as a magical eagle three on the par-five 18th hole.
“I was feeling a little bit dizzy and sleepy as I’m still recovering from jetlag but overall I am still very pleased with my game. My putting saved my game as I only managed to hit four fairways,” the 42-year-old said.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but