Hong Kong Open: England ‘child prodigy’ Aaron Rai, Jason Scrivener and Yasuku Miyazato lead by one shot after first round
- Wolverhampton native Rai is hoping for a breakthrough year on the circuit
- Fleetwood is one-under while Garcia fights back to shoot even par
Aaron Rai was considered a golf prodigy when he was as young as five years old, with the BBC having filmed him in 2000 hitting balls at his local driving range in Wolverhampton.
At the time, he said he wanted to become a racing driver when he grew up. But 18 years later Rai is sharing pole position with Australia’s Jason Scrivener and Japan’s Yusaku Miyazato after the first round of the US$2 million Honma Hong Kong Open on Thursday at Fanling.
All three returned scores of five-under-par 65 under difficult conditions at a windy Hong Kong Golf Club to lead by one stroke from a group of three golfers on four-under.
“Whether it’s windy or not, you have to play well here and put the ball in the right spots and hopefully the conditions are kind to us,” said Rai, a three-time winner on the Challenge Tour.
“I didn’t have too many expectations coming into the round. The conditions looked tough when we got here in the morning and the important thing was not to drop shots and be as neat and tidy as possible. Luckily it panned out that way,” said Rai, in his second season on the European Tour.
