Dec 14, 2018: India’s Anirban Lahiri and Khalin Joshi started well in the first round at the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), PT.Lautan Luas.Tbk and Bank Mandiri. World number two and defending champion Justin Rose of England stumbled on his way home after returning early Friday morning to complete his remaining four holes from his first round.
Both Anirban Lahiri and Khalin Joshi carded similar four-under-par 68 in the first round with five birdies and a lone bogey. Both are lying just two shots behind the lead by sharing the twelfth position with a huge crowd.
Rose was on the 15th hole when round one was called off due to lightning activities on Thursday afternoon. The Englishman returned to par that hole but dropped another two shots in his closing three holes to sign for a four-under-par 68 at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Rose will start his second round two shots back of the first round leaders that include American John Catlin, Korea’s Sungho Lee and Australia’s Josh Younger who signed for matching 66s at the Asian Tour season-ending event.
Younger was among the 62 players who had their opening round play disrupted. The Australian, who is chasing his maiden Asian Tour win this week, had a closing eagle-three on his closing par-five nine to thank for lifting him to a share of the lead which was earlier split between Catlin and Lee.
Playing alongside Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and India’s Anirban Lahiri, Catlin showed the form that led him to three Asian Tour wins this season when he marked his card with seven birdies and one bogey to set the early pace.
With only his tied-14th finish in Chinese Taipei as his best result on the Asian Tour this year, Lee was determined to put up a strong showing to end his year on a high at the US$750,000 event.
The 31-year-old Korean is currently in 95th place on the Habitat for Humanity standings and will need a huge lift to finish inside the top-62 and save his Tour card for the 2019 season.
Philippines’ Angelo Que meanwhile returned to familiar surroundings in the best of form after playing in Japan for a large part of this year.
Apart from a bogey-five on 16, the three-time Asian Tour winner showed his commanding form by signing for a 67 to stay one shot back of the leaders.
Like Que, tournament drawcard Stenson also posted a 67 to put himself in contention in his tournament debut.
Source: Asian Tour
