Ali upbeat despite poor finish

YASIN ALI admitted he let an opportunity to take a first-round lead in the Volvo China Open slip out of his grasp. But the young Englishman was not too downbeat about an opening effort of 70 which kept him well in contention at the Shanghai Silport Golf Club.

Only 14 of the 156-strong field broke par as blustery conditions, combined with deep rough and firm greens, made low scoring difficult.

A poor start from Ali was soon forgotten as the 25-year-old recovered from bogeying the opening hole to bag birdies at the fourth and seventh from two and four feet respectively.

Ali then drained a 35-foot putt at the ninth to reach the turn in 33, before following a chip-in on the 13th with a birdie at the 14th to move clear on four under par at the top of the leaderboard.

However, Ali found sand on the 16th to bogey and compounded the error by landing in the water off the tee at the last.

A double-bogey seven put him back into a group of 11 players at one under par, two shots behind co-leaders Raphael Jacquelin and Ming-jie Huang.

“I finished poorly,” Ali said. “I tried to play a solid shot on the 18th tee but it took a strong bounce to the left and ended up in the water. I took a drop, hit a terrible pitch and then muscled my way onto the green using a wedge, which rolled 30 feet to the right of the pin. I then three-putted but I’m still quite pleased. My game’s moving in the right direction.”

Ali also feels it will be his touch around the greens this week that will make the difference between success and failure.

“Your short game has to be spot on,” he added. “But at the end of the day you’re going to have to hole some long putts. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow but I’m hoping for a solid round.”

Frenchman Jacquelin was delighted after his 68.

“I’m very pleased with that,” he said. “I’ve been working on the putting green and the feel is very good. I missed two short putts at the end but on a day like this it’s hard to play without any mistakes.”

Jacquelin feels the elements can work to his advantage after finishing second at the Estoril Open in Portugal in similar circumstances two weeks ago.

“I’m okay in the wind,” he added. “I can hit the ball low so it’s not a problem for me. It wasn’t as strong as in Portugal and is a bit more across the course. But, if it gets any stronger, hitting greens will get more difficult and the fairways will be a bit too tight.”

Gary Rusnak lies a shot back in second and the American felt it was solid play on the greens that brought him a round of 69.

“I was putting really well,” he said. “I had 23 putts today and started the back nine with six consecutive one-putts. But it’s just the start, nothing more.”

Dane Thomas Bjorn, fresh from competing in the Masters at Augusta last week, also admitted it was hard work grinding out a score of 70 to sit level with Ali on one under par.

“It is almost that difficult to hit the fairways in these conditions that you are better off hitting a driver and getting as close as you can to the green, even if it lands in the rough,” he said.

“Then you can try and hit the middle of the green and two-putt. That was the strategy today.”