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Nazvi Careem

THE major players in the battle for Order of Merit honours stumbled in the first round of the US$500,000 Omega PGA Championship at Clearwater Bay yesterday.

  Taiwan's Japanese Tour regular Yeh Chang-ting and Singapore's Dino Kwek Beng Kwee shared the lead with three-under-par 67s as Lin Keng-chi, Boonchu Ruangkit and Jeev Milkha Singh all struggled to tame the windy conditions at the 6,032-yard, par-70 course.

  Taiwan's Lin leads the Order of Merit with US$173,626 in winnings and needs a good performance in Hong Kong - the fourth and final major of the inaugural Tour - to win the overall Merit award.

  But yesterday he shot a seven-over-par 77 to severely dent his chances of finishing among the leaders.

  Thailand's Boonchu, second in the standings with US$160,823, was six shots off the pace after his three-over-par 73, while Indian Singh, on US$134,403, fired a five-over-par 75.

  Singh's compatriot Gaurav Ghei, fourth in the standings on US$124,933, cannot win the Merit title as he was forced to pull out through illness.

  However, the fifth and sixth placed golfers on the Merit standings, Australian Robert Willis and Korean Kim Jong-duck, put themselves in contention.

 Willis (US$120,088) shot a one-over-par 71, while Kim (US$95,539) joined three other golfers on one-under-par 69.

 Hong Kong's Dominique Boulet suffered a double-bogey on the par-three sixth hole but was happy to return a 71, while New Zealand's former British Open runner-up Simon Owen shot a two-under 68 to lie in second place after the first round.

  Boonchu, who at 39 feels he does not have many more chances to win the Order of Merit, said the conditions were difficult to cope with.

  'It was very windy and I couldn't really play that well,' said Boonchu, who won last week's Burma Open for his second victory on the Omega Tour.

  Singh said he was in his element with the winds, but a lack of concentration over his opening six holes let him down.

 Starting on the 10th, Singh found himself six over when he triple-bogeyed the par-five 15th. But he gathered himself together to go through the next 12 holes in one under par, having collected a birdie on the par-three first.

  'I just played badly over the first few holes,' said Singh. 'That triple bogey really hurt me and from then on it was a mental battle.

  'At least I was able to get it together over the remaining 12 holes. I didn't try to be too aggressive and just tried to make pars. That will give me a lot of confidence as I try to get back.'   Boulet, enjoying his best season as a professional with more than US$33,000 in earnings, shot two successive birdies on his final two holes to save his round after his double-bogey on the sixth.

  'I wasted a lot of shots,' said Boulet. 'But I can't really complain about a 71.

  'It was very windy and the course is such that you cannot be too aggressive. You have to play conservatively.'   Yeh, who was third in last November's Hong Kong Open at Fanling, said playing on the Japanese Tour made him used to the conditions as he hit five birdies and three bogeys.

  'When I first went on the course, I thought the wind would make it difficult for me, but I've played quite a lot under similar conditions in Japan,' said the 29-year-old Yeh.

  'My putting was very good and I was accurate off the tees, hitting most of the fairways.'   Owen, second to Jack Nicklaus at the 1978 British Open, had three birdies and one bogey on the back nine after turning at even-par to lie one shot behind the leaders.

  Two of his five birdies came after he chipped in from the edge of the green.

  Americans Mike Cunning and John Kernohan and Taiwan's Chung Chun-hsing were tied with Kim in joint fourth place after yesterday's first round, all on one-under 69.



Yeh and Kwek put the wind up rivals