HONG KONG (21 May, 2012) – The 32-year-old finished runner-up at the event last year, eight strokes behind Frenchman Jean van de Velde, and the Asian Tour regular said he knew exactly what to expect when he arrived at the Hong Kong Golf Club and saw the prevailing conditions. That experience proved vital, too, as he posted six birdies for the round.
“The winds here can be quite tricky when they swirl around like they did today,” said Van der Valk. “It was blowing quite a bit all day but I had my short game going and that saved me.”
A blistering five-under after 10 holes, the Dutchman faltered down the stretch with bogies on 11, 15 and 17 but was delighted to be back in the clubhouse with a healthy lead intact.
“I had three birdies around the turn and that had me feeling really positive but then some stupid mistakes undid some of the hard work and I had three bogies coming in,” he said. “But I’ll take three-under and in the clubhouse. It was a good day.”
Van der Valk said he’d flown in to Hong Kong after a weekend of total rest and he planned a little more of the same in the afternoon, before turning his attention to day two of the 54-hole HK$400,000 event which will be played at the Discovery Bay Golf Club.
“I’ve got a little banking to do, run some errands, but really I’m not going to do much at all,” he said.
Leading the way for the locals after day one was former HKPGA chairman Wilson Choy, who shot an even-par 70. The 39-year-old left the course after what he described as a “boring” round but one that still had him smiling after injury had curtailed most of his 2011 season.
“I injured my neck snowboarding and it has taken some time to get right,” explained Choy. “I feel good now and it is a good position to be in after the first day. I made a bad decision for a double bogey on the 13th when I was a little bit too aggressive with a nine iron but apart from that I played solid.”
Choy finished just ahead of compatriot Wong Woon Man who ended the day tied for third after a bogey on the last left him at one over for the tournament with Singaporean Lam Chih Bing, Australia’s Unho Park and Hong Kong-based Welshman David Freeman.
Australia’s 1990 US PGA Championship winner Wayne Grady – back at the Ageas Hong Kong PGA Championship for the third consecutive year – fired a four-over-par 74 on a day where the majority of the field struggled with the wind and intermittent rain.
Complete first-round scores Ageas Hong Kong PGA Championship, HKGC (HKG unless indicated):
67 - Guido van der Valk (NDL)
70 - Wilson Choy
71 - Unho Park (AUS), Lam Chih Bing (SIN), Wong Woon Man, David Freeman (WAL)
72 - Terrence Ng (A), Andrew Good (ENG)
73 - Dominique Boulet
74 - CJ Gatto (USA), Chang Ren Chiat (SIN), Lee Kwok Yan, Wayne Grady (AUS)
75 - Paul Riley (AUS), Nathan Goulding (AUS), Tang Man Kee, Chris Tang
76 - Jang Chel Hoo, Timothy Tang, Siu Kam Piu, Jimmy Ko, Reene Lam
77 - Jovick Lee, Andrew Smith (ENG)
78 - Mark Mossip (CAN), Peter Ang Chin Ling (SIN), James Stewart (ENG)
79 - Eric Ma, Stanley Leung, Cheng Ka Yiu, Mitchell Slorach (SIN)
80 - Wong Ching Kwan, Chris Marrs (USA), Jason Kwok, Chau Pui
81 - Sung Sing, Shane Kuiti, Man Hung Lap, Kenny Wong, Eric Lee, Liu Lok Tin, Billy Tam
82 - Fung Wai Kit, Billy Ma, Grant Gibson (AUS), William Fung, Tony Lee
83 - Teddy Ho, Kam Hui
84 - Michael Cheung, Ducky Tang, Ernie Lee, Eric Shum
85 - Michael Long (USA), Danny Kan, Edmund Sung, Benny Yeung
86 - Alexander Cheng, Akashi Shintaro, Taylor Chiang, Tong Chun Po
89 - Chan Wai Hung, James Robbins (USA), Kelvin Li
93 - Alain Liu