South Korea’s Kang Kyung-nam fired a three-under par 68 in the first round of the Korean Open on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over American Garrett Sapp. Play was cut short due to bad light, but none of the players left to finish had a chance of catching the 28-year-old leader, who boasted seven birdies offset by four bogeys at the $900,000 OneAsia competition. “This is the event that Korean players want to win more than any other,” Kang said, adding: “Some great players have won this event, so it would be great to match them.” In joint third place were Koreans Choi Ho-sung, Suk Jong-yul, Kim Byung-jun and Kim Dae-hyun, and American Hong “Charles” Chang-kyu. Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and Korea’s Noh Seiung-yul, both aged 21 and now playing in the United States, drew the biggest audience around the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club course. Struggling on the greens was 14-year-old America-based Chinese prodigy Andy Zhang, who in June became the youngest person ever to qualify for the US Open. Zhang made the turn at seven over par, but settled his nerves to finish the next nine level, with two birdies and two bogeys.
Leading scores:
68 – Kang Kyung-nam (KOR)
70 – Garrett Sapp (USA)
71 – Choi Ho-sung (KOR), Suk Jong-yul (KOR), Kim Byung-jun (KOR), Kim Dae-hyun (KOR), Hong Chang-kyu (USA)
72 – Lucas Lee (BRA), Park Ju-hyuk (KOR), Kim Do-hoon 753 (KOR), Kalem Richardson (AUS), Kim Dae-sub (KOR), Chae Bum-geun (KOR), Yoon Jung-ho (KOR)
Kang leads Korean Open after birdie blitz
