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Published on November 23, 2007

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng "joked" their way to a nine-under-par 63 in the opening round's fourball as they led the Asian charge in the World Cup yesterday.

Thongchai, a two-time Asian Tour No 1, was in sparkling form as he contributed six birdies in the better-ball format while Prayad sank three birdies at the Mission Hills Golf Club's Olazabal Course.

The Thais ended the day in joint third place, two behind the US team of Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum, who combined for a blistering 61 to lead by one shot from Germany, represented by Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer in the US$5-million event.

"I played well along with Prayad. He drove nicely and as he teed off first and was always on the fairways, I could get aggressive. We were very steady," said Thongchai, who is making his debut in the World Cup.

Prayad paid tribute to his partner's scintillating play and said they talked all the way through the round which kept them at ease. "My game was not really in form. Thongchai played really good to get us going," said Prayad, a five-time winner in Asia.

Thongchai said: "We worked well together. There were some holes where I just picked up the ball. If someone played bad, the other would concentrate hard. It is very important to do that in the fourball. In the last hole, he drove it into the water but I got it into play [for par].

 "We were talking about jokes all the time. We talked about everything out there. We were just catching up as we have played in different events mostly this season."

The Thais, who are using matching strips in the colours of the Thai national flag this week, believe they can make up ground in today's foursomes (alternate shot), which is the more difficult format.

"We will plan on who will take the odd number or even number holes. There are some holes which I like and some which he likes, so we will decide from there. But I feel the more we play together, the more confidence we will have," Thongchai said.

Prayad felt proud to see Thailand feature prominently on a crowded leaderboard. "It's good," Prayad said. "Tomorrow will be important but it would not be a problem for us."

India's Gaurav Ghei and Jyoti Randhawa also enjoyed a strong start with a 65, with Randhawa starring for the team with six birdies as they ended the day in a share of 11th place.

"Jyoti played really well. I was just riding along," Ghei said. "This is a very good start. It would have been better if we had picked up a few more shots. I missed a small one on 16 and on 15 [par five] we did not make birdie after good drives. We left a couple of shots here and there."

Like the Thais, the Indian duo also enjoyed each other's company as this is the first time they are competing in the World Cup as a pair.

"Gaurav was there all the time and that gives you a lot of support and I got aggressive and made birdies. Whenever we needed pars, he made it. It is not that I was the only one who played… it is a good team effort. Not dropping bogey was a great effort from us," Randhawa said.

"It was easy to click as a team. We were great. A few times, he read my lines and I read his lines.

"There were a lot of things that we talked about on the golf course which cannot be printed! We were relaxed out there."

The Chinese combination of Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong ended the first day four off the pace. Zhang got the team out of the blocks with two opening birdies before Liang, the current leader of the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, contributed five birdies.

"It is unfortunate on the par fives as we missed quite a few good opportunities to go low. We were hoping to get down to 10 under for the day, but overall, I think I would grade myself a B plus or an A minus," Zhang said.

Liang said the team will be aggressive in today's foursomes in their bid to catch the Americans.

"We might be going a little bit more aggressive and hopefully get into the top 10 in the weekend so that we will get a chance to hopefully pick up the trophy on the weekend," Liang said.

South Korea's Lee Sung and Lee Seung-ho also fired a 65 while the Philippines, represented by Gerald Rosales and Tony Lascuna, carded a 67.

Agencies

Mission Hills, China