Woods shoots course-record 64, leads Thailand
tournament
By ROBERT HORN / Associated Press Writer
BANGNA, Thailand (AP) - Tiger Woods, his game heating up as
spectators sought relief from the stifling conditions, shot a
course-record 8-under-par 64 today to take the second-round lead
in the Asian Honda Classic.
"I felt a lot better today. I'm over the jet lag,"
said Woods, two strokes clear of the field in the Omega Tour event.
"I'm in a good position at the halfway stage, but there are
still two rounds to go."
Woods, whose mother Kultida is a native Thai, had four birdies
on the front nine before a gallery of about 3,000 fans. While
the tropical heat reduced that number to 1,000 at the turn, Woods
rewarded the remaining fans with a a number of dazzling shots.
"This is more exciting than I expected," said Pornchai
Pelert, a 30-year-old hotelier who was attending her first golf
tournament.
Woods, who received a reported $480,000 appearance fee, birdied
the 10th, just missed birdie putts on Nos. 11 and 12, and then
holed a tricky wedge shot from just off the the green on the par-4
13th to catch the leaders.
The three-time PGA Tour winner dropped a stroke on the par-5
14th, but climbed back to the top of the leaderboard with a birdie
on No. 16. He hit his third shot on the par-5 17th within 5 feet
to setup another birdie, and closed with yet another precise approach
for his ninth birdie of the day.
"He usually is happy to just be in contention during the
early rounds and comes on strong to win at the end," said
Kultida Woods, who wore a tiger-patterned visor as she followed
her son around the Thai Country Club.
First-round leader Lee Petters, a British national playing
for the United Arab Emirates, was two back at 136 along with American
Greg Hanrahan and Mexico's Carlos Espinosa. Petters shot a 70,
Hanrahan had a 66 and Espinosa a 68. Two-time U.S. champion Curtis
Strange was eight back after a 74.
In his short stay, Woods will receive a royal decoration, be
feted by Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, and be asked to
help promote the 1998 Asian Games, a regional Olympic-style competition
set for Bangkok.
"This tournament is special because it's in the land of
my mother's birth," Woods said Thursday. "Thailand has
treated us very well. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm home.
I hope I will be back soon."
The 21-year-old had barely unbuckled his seat belt after a
20-hour flight Tuesday night when television crew broadcasting
live on four of the country's five channels burst into the first-class
cabin.
Right behind were politicians, bureaucrats and business executives
falling over each other for a chance to be photographed with Woods
- the best-known athlete with Thai origins in the world.
The hectic pace felled Woods in Wednesday's pro-am practice
round, when he quit on the 13th hole, citing heat exhaustion,
jet lag and all the attention from his sleepless first night in
the country.
But he recovered with a 70 in the first round and attended
a private dinner Thursday night, where he was applauded for trying
to imitate the intricate hand movements of traditional Thai dancers.
Chingchai Mongkoltham, Chavalit's sports adviser, said the
government considers promoting Tiger "important for society
because we usually have pretty bad news."
Most Thais are subsistence farmers whose only experience with
golf is when their land is expropriated to build courses. Public
courses are rare and so are chances for ordinary people to learn
the game.
"Our government's reaction is too much," said Thaweep
Thiensai, 18, whose views echoed those of many Thais interviewed
by The Associated Press. "They want to give honors to someone
who is basically a foreigner, while they do nothing to support
our local athletes."
Maj. Gen. Charouck Arirachakaran, secretary general of the
Olympic Committee of Thailand, was quoted in The Nation as saying
Tiger is no Somluck Kamsing, a boxer who won Thailand's first
gold medal in Atlanta.
"As far as I am concerned, he (Tiger) is only a half-Thai,"
Charouck said of Woods, who actually is only one-quarter Thai.
"He takes part in every tournament as an American national
and there is little positive publicity Thailand can derive out
of it. Only his mother is Thai."
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