BEIJING, 15 Sept 2016 (HK Golfer News Wire) - This season, Hak has led after the second round of the Ping An Private Bank Wanda Open, the first and second rounds of the Yulongwan Yunnan Open and now this week. He entered this event at Topwin Golf and Country Club with a tie for second at last week’s Chongqing Jiangnan NewTown KingRun Open added to his record, his career-best finish. All facets of Hak’s game seem to be working.
Thursday, the 22-year-old made nine birdies and a lone bogey, finishing his round in style. He recovered from that only bogey of the day on his 16th hole by tapping in for birdie from a foot on the par-5 eighth hole and then rolling in a 12-footer for birdie on No. 9 to close things.
“My irons were great, and my putting was great. Usually when those two things are good, I’m looking at a pretty good round,” Hak observed following his 8-under morning that matched the 8-under 63 he fired in the opening round of the Yulongwan Yunnan Open.
Hak, starting his day on Topwin’s back nine, birdied three of his first four holes and added two more to shoot an opening-nine, 5-under 31. His round could have been lower, but he missed what he called a makeable birdie putt on No. 18. “But that didn’t bother me too much. I turned around and had a couple more birdies,” he added.
Those came at Nos. 2 and 3, his 11th and 12th holes of the round. “I played good. Everything was under my control the majority of the time. When I start again, I hope I can keep my momentum going,” he continued.
Hak seemed to get past struggling weekends with his play last week in Chongqing. After shooting a third-round 78 and a final-round 75 at the Ping An Private Bank Wanda Open and a final-round 74 at the Yulongwan Yunnan Open, Hak fired rounds of 71-68 on the weekend last week for his first career runner-up performance.
Saxon, No. 4 on the Order of Merit, was steady all round, his only stumble a late-round bogey—at No. 16. No problem, though. He remedied that with back-to-back birdies to close, for his 65, his 12th sub-70 score this season in 30 rounds.
“I played really well today. I hit it well. I played a really nice front nine but felt like I left a couple out there,” Saxon explained. “I kept hitting it inside 10 feet, but I wasn’t making many putts. I stayed patient, kept hitting it well and then the putter got hot. All in all, it was a great day.”
Tied for fourth at 5-under is Finland's Teemu Putkonen. “I thought I played well early on. I felt really good about my game and my body. I slept absolutely splendidly even though I woke up at 4 a.m. I was telling one of the guys on the driving range that I’ve never felt this awake at 5 in the morning,” said Putkonen, who despite the good rest didn’t get off to a quick start. He made only one birdie over his first seven holes and made the turn at 1-under35. But a bogey-free back nine, with four birdies, put him into contention with his best opening-round score of the season, bettering the 3-under 69 he opened with at the Cadillac Championship.
“I’ve been playing decently the whole year, and today I hit good iron shots and got a couple of good putts to go in,” Putkonen added. The highlight of the round came at the par-5 fourth hole when he made his first birdie of the day. In solid position and facing his third-shot approach, he hit an indifferent shot to 30 feet. “I hit a perfect putt and it went straight in."