Tour rookie Wu Xiangbing of China and Taiwan's Tsai Chi-huang overcame the after effects of Typhoon Isa and an early morning earthquake to jointly lead the US$250,000 DFS Galleria Guam Open yesterday.
Wu and Tsai battled bravely against the elements to card first-round, three-under-par 69s to lead the Omega Tour event by one stroke from Korea's Goo Ja-hoon. Canadian Jim Rutledge and Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng are one stroke back.
Typhoon Isa, which caused the cancellation of the first round on Thursday and reduced the tournament to 54 holes, may have passed by Guam, but strong winds were still much in evidence yesterday at the Leo Palace Resort.
As well as throwing Typhoon Isa at Guam, Mother Nature also delivered two minor earthquakes yesterday morning, providing an early morning wake-up call for many of the players.
'I woke up at about 4 am and felt the bed shaking. I thought I was dreaming or something. It was really quite a strong shake,' said 29-year-old Wu. 'Considering the circumstances, I am very happy with my score. The wind was very strong - it was very hard work out there.' The Chinese player is in his first year as a touring pro and joins Zhang Lianwei and Cheng Jun as the only full-time touring golfers from China.
Wu, like Zhang and Cheng, plays out of the Shenzhen Golf Club and was part of China's first batch of professionals.