Hwang Jung-gon in action at Royal St George’s. Picture by Getty Images.
Sandwich, England (July 14): In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s more than one tournament taking place at Royal St George’s this week.
While the 140th staging of the Open Championship is the main event, there are numerous intriguing tournaments within that tournament.
Although the R&A hands out just two trophies at the conclusion of the championship – to the overall winner and the leading amateur – there are any number of leaderboards that are constantly changing throughout the week.
It may be true that every one of the 156 players in the starting line-up sets out on Thursday with dreams of raising aloft the Claret Jug come Sunday afternoon. But only a few of those could be said to be realistic.
For most, the hope is to make the cut and finish top of their particular leaderboards.
Fox example, Noh Seung-yul is actually contesting three tournaments this week. First and foremost there’s the Open Championship, followed by the Asian Championship and then the Korean Championship.
He’s made a pretty good start to all three, an opening 69 lifting him into a share of 18th place in 156-man The Open; equal second in the Asian Championship and equal second in the Korean Championship (behind surprise leader Hwang Jung-gon in both categories).
Throughout the week we’ll keep you posted not only on the Open itself but also the race to be crowned Best Asian, Best Korean, Best Japanese and Best Thai at the 2011 Open. One award we can hand out with certainty even at this early stage goes to Lam Chih Bing.
He may be in danger of missing the half-way cut after a disappointing opening 76 when conditions were at their most benign, but no-one can prevent him claiming the Best Singaporean title as he’s the only player from his country who qualified.
FIRST-ROUND STANDINGS
ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP
68 – Hwang Jung-gon (KOR)
69 – Yuta Ikeda (JPN); Noh Seung-yul (KOR)
70 – Tadahiro Takayama (JPN)
71 – KJ Choi (KOR); YE Yang (KOR)
72 – Prom Meesawat (THA); Bae Sang-moon (KOR)
74 – Ryo Ishikawa (JPN)
75 – Thongchai Jaidee (THA); Kim Kyung-tae (KOR); Hiroyuki Fujita (JPN); Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN); Hiroo Kawai (JPN)
76 – Prayad Marksaeng (THA); Lam Chih Bing (SIN)
KOREAN CHAMPIONSHIP
68 – Hwang Jung-gon
69 – Noh Seung-yul
71 – KJ Choi; YE Yang
72 – Bae Sang-moon
75 – Kim Kyung-tae
JAPAN CHAMPIONSHIP
69 – Yuta Ikeda
70 – Tadahiro Takayama
74 – Ryo Ishikawa
75 – Hiroyuki Fujita; Tetsuji Hiratsuka; Hiroo Kawai
THAI CHAMPIONSHIP
72 – Prom Meesawat
75 – Thongchai Jaidee
76 – Prayad Marksaeng
