Harvey, Kang set clubhouse lead at Kolon Korea Open
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Canadian Ron Harvey and South Korean Kang Sung-hoon both shot four-under-par 67 to share the clubhouse lead after a fog-delayed first round of the Kolon Korea Open.
Only 72 players completed their rounds on the first day of the OneAsia event after the start was delayed by more than three hours at the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan.
Han Min-kyu posted a 68, one stroke ahead of fellow Koreans Kwon Myung-ho, Bae Youn-ho and Hong Soon-sang. Y.E. Yang, Asia's first Major winner, carded a 74 over the 7,185-yard layout.
Of those still playing their second nine, Asian Tour leader Noh Seung-yul and Australian Stephen Leaney were four-under, the latter nailing a hole-in-one at the 216-yard seventh. Defending champion Bae Sang-moon was one-under, while PGA Tour star Anthony Kim struggled at four-over.
Harvey, fifth in July's Indonesia Open on OneAsia, teed off on the back nine and was six-under following four birdies and an eagle on the par-five fifth. However, the 27-year-old finished with bogeys on holes seven and nine to drop back within reach of the chasing pack.
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Ron Harvey. |
"It leaves a bit of a sour taste to finish like that. However, I have to put it into perspective as I didn't hit my driver well at all, my irons were a little skanky … I just putted like a Greek God," said Harvey, runner-up in a recent China Tour event in Zhengzhou.
"The par-threes are all beasts and the rough is really difficult, long and sticking out in all directions, so you have to be really creative."
Harvey formerly played on the Nationwide Tour and other circuits in North America before he stopped playing due to injuries. In early 2008, he moved to Korea to teach English for 15 months, headed back to Canada where he took up golf again last summer, then returned to Asia and qualified for this year's Korean and China Tours, earning frequent starts on OneAsia.
"It's not a glamorous story like 'AK' (Anthony Kim). I had to rehab my body after not picking up a golf club for 19 months, then thought I would head to Asia again. Today, I don't have a home and I often stay with friends in Nanjing and Suwon between events in China, Korea and OneAsia."
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