Tournament article

SMBC Singapore Open 2019

Tough condition on Day 1, Ikeda and Fujimoto both finished 4 under 1 behind the current leader

The Round 1 of the Singapore Open was interrupted by bad weather. Round 1 started but it was suspended at 14:48 local time due to the lightening warnings. Which led for the Order of Merit winner Imahira and other afternoon groups to wait for more than 3 hours to tee off.

At 17:30 local time, play suspended again due to sunset. The 26 afternoon tee off groups will resume their Round 1 at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

On the other hand, morning start group who were not affected by the delays, made a good charge. Yuta Ikeda and Yoshinori Fujimoto ended the round with 4 under, tied to 2nd place, 1 behind the club house leader.

Yuta marked 5 birdies and a bogey for the Round 1.
"I's been a while since I played so well like today. And the play linked with the score."
Yuta grouped with Ho-Sung Choi and Matthew Fitzpatrick. All of them were making birdies which must have led to a good competition.

Last week Yuta was at the Sony Open in Hawaii, which was his first tournament this season, but his shots were not leading to the score and it was stressful rounds.
"But today I played as I wished. I would like to keep it up."

Yoshiori, who finished same as Yuta, started his season here in Singapore. He says he swung his clubs only once before he got here. His first round of the year was at Singapore.
"It's my 4th round of this season today."

But it doesn't mean he was wasting his time. He took plenty of time training his muscles. Last season, Yoshinori was locked on for his 4th victory, first one in 5 years, but was taken away by Toru Taniguchi, who is his senior from same Nara Prefecture.
This year Yoshinori says he won't set a specific goal. He thinks he will be better off by concentrating on his play by play.

SMBC Singapore Open notes
At 17:30 Singapore time SMBC Singapore Open Round 1 resumed after 3 hours and 22 minutes.
But at 19:10 local time, Round 1 was suspended due to sunset.
Round 1 play will resume at 7:30 local time tomorrow, and Round 2 is scheduled to start from 9:40 local time.