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Stenson happy with his opening day effort
Jeju, Korea, 23 April 2009 - Henrik Stenson lived up to his billing as the top-ranked player at the Ballantine’s Championship with an impressive opening round on Thursday.
The Swede carded a four-under-par 68 at Pinx Golf Club on the Korean holiday island of Jeju to finish the day just three shots off the pace.
“I’m happy with the day, obviously,” said Stenson. “I came back strong on the back nine, shot four-under there. It’s always good to take it home in 32, and I think it’s a good start for me.”
The world No.9, teeing off from the 10th hole, mixed six birdies with two bogeys as bright sunshine and a lack of breeze made for ideal scoring conditions.
After reaching the turn in level par, Stenson birdied No.3 and No.4 and finished with a flourish with two more birdies on the eighth and ninth.
He admitted that as the highest ranked player in the field the onus was on him to do well.
“I think when you are coming into a tournament and you are among the top players, you always feel like there’s a little bit of pressure on you to perform. I’m no different,” he said.
“I expect myself to perform, and 68 is a good start, so I’m pleased with that, and I’m looking forward to the next three days. I’m going to try my best to have a really good tournament.”
Mark Brown of New Zealand and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño lead the 2009 Ballantine’s Championship after each posed a seven-under 65.
The €2.1 million showpiece is once again co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours and Korea PGA.
Despite the glorious weather on Thursday, Stenson predicted scoring would be more difficult than at last year’s inaugural tournament when Graeme McDowell won in a playoff after reaching 24-under 264.
This year’s Ballantine’s Championship is taking place six weeks later in the calendar and the warmer weather means Pinx has considerably more rough.
“If the weather stays like today, you know, the winning score might be creeping close to 20-under, something like that perhaps,” said Stenson.
“But if we’re expecting some strong winds over the weekend, it’s obviously going to bring the scores back. And the course will be playing a little tougher with the rough.
“We’ll see. I think [the winning score] will be between 15 and 20-under, but as the wind comes up, it might come back down a little bit.”
Stenson has already picked up one reward for his efforts at Pinx – a bottle of Ballantine’s 17 Year Old Scotch for notching a birdie on the par-three 17th.
“That’s obviously a highlight,” he said. “I don’t know, if my caddy is going to drink 10 per cent of it, then I’m going to drink 90 per cent. It might be a rough evening!”
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Released on behalf of the Ballantine’s Championship by Two Up Front - Asia’s sports PR specialists.