You are in > manchester.com  > News > Caddieless Carolan leads Ballantine's Championship

Golf

Caddieless Carolan leads Ballantine's Championship

13/03/2008

Australia's Tony Carolan and Finland's Mikko Ilonen are the joint leaders after the first round of the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea.

Both men carded five-under-par rounds of 67 to go into the clubhouse one shot clear of the chasing pack.

Carolan managed a bogey-free round, which featured three consecutive birdies in his first four holes of the day.

His inward nine was less impressive but solid, as he picked up a single shot at the par-five 16th after going out in 32 shots.

However, the news that dominated the headlines afterwards was Carolan's decision to sack his caddie - a hired local - after just five holes of his opening round.

"He was jiggling clubs and moving around while I was putting," he explained afterwards.

"He also had soft spikes on so he wasn't allowed on the greens. He was terrible.

"I just told him to go. I'm paying him $160 a day and he couldn't walk on the greens."

Ilonen also wowed the crowds with his play on the outward nine at the Pinx golf course, as he birdied the first, third, sixth and ninth holes and carded a bogey on the seventh to keep pace with the leaders.

He looked on course for a very low score after birdying two of his first three holes on the inward nine, but only made par on the final six holes to finish level with Carolan.

A group of ten players find themselves one shot behind the leaders, including England's Simon Griffiths, Irishman Paul McGinley and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.