Olivia Mehaffey will return on day two of the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge with three holes to complete as she looks to improve her first round standing after a weather-delayed start in Thailand.
The Tandragee woman is currently in a share of 35th with seven points in the modified stableford format at Siam Country Club’s Waterside course, which is 15 back of runaway leader Sihwan Kim at the mixed-gender event in Chonburi.
Rather than being played to-par, the tournament sees points awarded for each scoring hole – eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, minus-one for a bogey and minus-three for any score more than that – to encourage more aggressive play.
With five birdies and three bogeys on her scorecard, Mehaffey currently sits two-under for the tournament and with seven points, which has her tied for 35th.
The former Arizona State star bogeyed her second hole, but back-to-back birdies got her up to three points, although she would finish her front-nine bogey-birdie-bogey to stay at that score.
Her momentum was halted at just the wrong time, however, the hooter for darkness suspending play just as Mehaffey recorded back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th and she will resume on Friday morning hoping to keep that going into day two.
Kim, meanwhile, holds a healthy seven-point lead at the top, the American rattling off three straight birdies and then an eagle at the par-five 18th to end his round with a sparkling 10-under 62 that has him atop the standings with 22 points.
In total, the Asian Tour Order of Merit leader carded an eagle, nine birdies and one bogey in a fantastic round that already has him in a commanding position at the top.
“It was one of those rounds where you just look at a putt and it goes in,” said 33-year-old Kim. “I didn’t really hit that well off the tee, I probably hit two fairways on the back nine today, but I was seven-under, so I just don’t know.”
Joohyung Kim, Hung Chien-yao, Viraj Madappa and Rory Hie are all tied for second on 15 points, with Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom and Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen the leading women in a share of eighth on 13 points.
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