Royal cup leader aims to sharpen his focus

The 28-year-old from Prachin Buri relied on his red-hot putter to sprinkle his error-free round with seven birdies and take a one-stroke lead in Pattaya.
“The key were the putts. I shot scores on difficult par-four holes and saved several pars from tough positions. It was a fantastic round for me,” said Raththee, who is considering changing his caddy in the second round because he is worried the friend who carried his bag on Thursday might distract him from his game.
“I had to keep telling him to stand still,” the one-time ADT Tour champion in Nakhon Ratchasima said with a laugh. “Today it was OK as I was playing well … but tomorrow I need someone who is calmer.”
Raththee had to retire from the third round of the Queen’s Cup on the same course two weeks ago due to a right hip injury. 
Further mishaps, including a cut on a little finger and a neck problem, could not stop him from entering the field this week.
“I just want to test myself and see how I can perform despite all this stuff. I’m not 100 per cent but I want to give it a fight,” added the amiable, whose best Asian Tour attempt was a tie for 11th at the Royal Cup last December.

A stroke behind in joint second were the in-form South African Justin Harding, who just celebrated his maiden Asian Tour victory in Indonesia a fortnight ago, and Naoto Nakanishi of Japan.  
Australian Josh Younger was a further stroke back in fourth after a 65.
Defending champion Shiv Kapur of India kicked off his campaign in style, carding a 66 to have a share of fifth place with several players, including Taiwanese Lu Wei-chih, Argentine Miguel Carballo, little-known local  Chaiphat Koonmark and three-time Asian Tour champion Chinnarat Phadungsil.

The 29-year-old from Chanthaburi, the youngest Asian Tour winner when he won the Double A International Open in 2005  at 17 years and five days, sank six birdies against two bogeys which put him among the strong contenders on the tour for the first time in several years. 
He said one wrong decision had robbed him of confidence in his swing.
“When I was younger I went to play in Europe and tried to adapt some techniques being used by good European players which weren’t right for me. When I wanted to get back to my own style, it was not the same, especially my confidence,” said Chinnarat, whose last win was the 2009 Queen’s Cup in Samui.
“I still have the shots but the confidence is not there. I’m getting better slowly and hopefully I will dare to go for my shots again,” he added.
Chaiphat , 24 from Ubon Ratchathani , whose best result was joint 4th in the All Thailand Tour at the Burapa Golf Course in Chon Buri last year, had butterflies in the stomach to be so highly placed.
 “Of course I’m so excited but I feel so happy at the same time. I will enter the second round and play as if it’s the final round,” said Chaiphat, who changed his name from Thammanoon last year in the hope it would bring him good luck.
Former Asian Tour No 1 Thongchai Jaidee fought back from two over par to card an even-par 70.