Antoine Rozner equalled his lowest career 18-hole score on Thursday as he began the 2023 Korea Championship Presented by Genesis with a bogey-free round of 63 to open up a commanding four-shot lead.
The Frenchman started from the tenth tee in the morning and fired six birdies on his front nine before picking up three more shots after the turn to get to nine under par.
Related: Adrian Meronk seeking to build on solid DP World Toor season
None of the afternoon starters were able to get close to the 30-year-old at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, as he continued the form that has seen him pick up his third DP World Tour title at the the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and record three other top-ten finishes so far in the 2023 season.
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Home favourite Park Sanghyun, who finished third on one of the DP World Tour’s previous stops in Korea at the 2011 Ballantine’s Championship, and England’s Andy Sullivan are Rozner’s nearest challengers on five under.
South Korean Lee Hyungjoon was among those another shot further back in a tie for fourth, alongside Alexander Knappe, Pablo Larrazábal, Alexander Björk and Yannik Paul, who finished his round in style with an eagle on the 18th
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Player Quotes
Antoine Rozner: A lot of things went my way today. I obviously played well, but you need a bit of luck to shoot 63, especially on a hard golf course like this one.
I holed a really good one on the 11th hole, my second hole of the day. It went straight in the centre of the hole and I thought ‘maybe it could be a good day’ and it was. I’m really pleased, I hit some superb shots, amazing outs as well. Really great start.
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Played super solid, I played the two par fives really well (on his front nine) and still had two more to go. It’s a tough course, you have to keep grinding and you have to focus on the shots. I did that well.
I didn’t have so many chances on my back nine, but when I had a chance I made it. It was a pure day of golf, one of those days when you wish you could plat like this all the time.
Park Sanghyun: About ten years ago I played in the Ballantine’s Championship, and I came third, which was a good result.
I’m satisfied with my play. The course was quite challenging, but I did well. It has been a long time since I have played on the DP World Tour and especially in Korea, so I am very happy.
Andy Sullivan: It was a strange one. It was a tough pin to get at (for the 60-footer at the fifth), so I was always sort of aiming there. And yeah, when you get one of them in, it’s more of a surprise than anything else. I holed a good one on two as well, which they probably would have had to get the referees to repair the hole it hit the hole so hard.
Just going out there even in the morning, you knew it was going to be a tough challenge. The course doesn’t really feel like it’s yielding many birdies. I know I made a few today with a putter, but you’ve got to be on your game out there.
I think you’ll see the scores this week quite separated in terms of top to bottom. Last week it was quite congested. This week, I think we’ll see some big numbers, but also a couple of low ones. But great golf course. Enjoyed it. Just need to keep up the tee to green.
Yannik Paul: The eagle (on the last) was nice, it makes the dinner taste a bit better. I just had a couple of poor wedge shots (for bogies on 14 and 16) and bad breaks, that’s how you make a couple of bogies. I had a good chance on 17 that I didn’t make, and it was nice to finish on an eagle. 2
I had 214 metres to the pin, a little bit down wind, so I had to hit a perfect four iron just left of it, and that’s exactly how it came out. Landed just short of the green and rolled up to 20 feet and I made the putt.
The conditions were up and down a bit. If you missed a fairway it was really hard to get close to the pins, the pins were tucked a bit. A lot of different tiers (on the greens), you need to hit quality iron shots to make birdies.
