Good Start For George Gandranata At GS Caltex Maekyung Open

SEOUL, May 9 - Korean Cho Min-gyu and Australian Terry Pilkadaris made the most of near-perfect conditions with blistering eight-under-par 64s on Thursday to share a three-shot lead after the first round of OneAsia's GS Caltex Maekyung Open at The Namseoul Country Club on the outskirts of Seoul.

Pilkadaris and Cho both capped remarkable rounds with birdies on the ninth -- their final hole -- to put daylight between them and a chasing pack that included four Koreans and an Australian.

Pilkadaris credited a change to his putting stroke made on Sunday for his flawless round, while Cho said he scrambled well.

"The course is in really good nick and the fairways are cut shorter so you're not worried about getting flyers," said Pilkadaris, whose last win came at the Brunei Open in 2005.

The 39-year-old admitted he has struggled around the hilly 6,349 meter (6,943 yard) course in the past, but felt this year that Namseoul was in the best condition he had ever seen it.

"I only made the cut for the first time a couple of years ago ... I haven't had a good run here," he said.

"But the greens are also bit slower than they normally are; I had a couple of downhill putts that I managed to two-putt where in previous years you'd be lucky to do that."

Terry Pilkadaris made the cut at last week's Volvo China Open after squeaking into the OneAsia and European Tour co-sanctioned tournament as an alternate and following a last minute dash from Italy, but after a promising opening round he went off the boil and finished three over.

"I putted poorly at the weekend -- actually the last three rounds were disappointing -- and so after the round I just went to the putting green," said Pilkadaris.

While practicing, he bumped into former European Tour player Ian Garbutt, who is now a manager, and asked him to have a look at his stroke.

"He said 'hey, your stroke looks a little bit slow, just quicken your back swing up', so I worked on that for few days after getting here, and now I've putted nicely."

Cho also credited his putter for his excellent round.

"My putting was really good today but actually the score looks better than the golf … I was scrambling a bit out there," he said.

The 24-year-old has played full time on the Japan Tour since 2010 -- winning the Kansai Open Golf Championship the following year -- and he finished joint fourth at March's Thailand Open which was co-sanctioned by both OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour Organization.

Both Indonesian players rebounded from poor performances the week before. George Gandranata, who last week missed the cut at home turf at the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters, carded a 70 putting him in a tie for 26th place. Meanwhile Rory Hie, who also missed the cut but at the Volvo China Open, needed one shot more, good for a 43rd position after day 1.
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Defending champion Kim Bi-o blamed a lapse in concentration on the last for a double-bogey that left him level par for the round.

"I felt a bit of pressure out there and was coping well, but I let it slip right at the end," he said.

"I will try not to let that happen again.

Scores after round one of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open (Par-72):

64 - CHO Min-gyu (KOR), Terry PILKADARIS (AUS)

67 - LEE Kyoung-hoon (KOR), KIM Do-hoon 753 (KOR), Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS), KIM Hyung-sung (KOR), PARK Jun-won (KOR)

68 - SONG Young-han (KOR), PARK Ju-hyuk (KOR), PARK Eun-shin (KOR), KIM Seng Yong (KOR), KIM Gi-whan (KOR), PARK Jae-kyung (KOR), KANG Kyung-nam (KOR), Peter WILSON (AUS), PARK Il-hwan (KOR), KIM Woo-chan (KOR)

Selected:

70 - George GANDRANATA (INA)

71 - Rory HIE (INA)