Thaworn sets early pace at Queen's Cup

Thaworn sets early pace at Queen's Cup

Thaworn Wiratchant
Thaworn Wiratchant

Samui: Thai veteran star Thaworn Wiratchant took his customary position atop the leaderboard at the weather-hit Queen's Cup following an opening five-under-par 66 yesterday.

The 49-year-old former Asian Tour No.1 used an old set of irons at Santiburi Samui Country Club to propel his quest for an unprecedented third Queen's Cup title and 19th Asian Tour victory.

American rookie Sam Chien stood at five under with one hole remaining when a thunderstorm halted play at 4.20pm. Round one will resume at 6.30am today with round two now starting at 7am.

Thailand's Gunn Charaoenkul sank an opening eagle en route to a 67 to lead the chasing pack at the US$300,000 tournament while Taiwan's Lu Wei-chih was amongst those bunched a further shot back on 68 after he dropped three shots over his closing two holes.

Korea's Wang Jeung-Hun, the highest ranked player in the field, China's Liang Wen-chong and title-holder Prayad Marksaeng enjoyed solid starts with 69s.

The unorthodox swinging Thaworn has endured lacklustre form during the opening half of the year but returning to his happy hunting ground and reverting to old clubs proved to be the perfect riposte.

"I'm always happy to come back and play well here," beamed Thaworn, winner in 2012 and 2014.

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