March 20th, 2008:

Zhou Xunshu overcame some early frustrations Thursday at Shanghai Silport Golf Club to finish with a 2-over 74 in the opening round of the KEB Invitational, which features the top domestic tour players from China and South Korea. Play has not yet finished for the day, but Zhou currently is tied for 51st place in the field of 135, which means he’ll have to turn in a solid performance on Friday if he wants to make the weekend cut (usually the top 65 players) in the US$400,000 event. Golfers who make the cut are guaranteed a payday of at least US$1,400 (RMB 9,877), which is financially equivalent to a top-25 finish in a China Tour event.

On Thursday, after parring the fourth hole, Zhou was distracted during his tee shot on No. 5 — the marshal on four started shouting scores into her walkie talkie during Zhou’s back swing. Zhou’s shot went in the water, leading to a double-bogey that put Zhou at 3-over early. Two holes later, Zhou, still frustrated, again found water on his tee shot on No. 7. He managed a bogey and fell to 4-over.

Then Zhou settled down. He posted birdies on Nos. 8 and 13, bogeyed the par-3 17 and finished his round with another birdie.

¹ The tournament is technically in Kunshan, in Jiangsu Province, just across the border from Shanghai’s Qingpu District.

周四上海旭宝高尔夫球场，周训书在克服了开始阶段的一些不顺之后，在KEB中韩男子职业高尔夫球巡回赛首轮中以74杆高于标准杆两杆的成绩完赛，这次比赛聚集了中韩两国国内巡回赛的顶尖选手。今天的比赛目前还没有结束，周训书现在在135名选手中并列第51位，这意味着为了在这场总奖金40万美金的比赛中晋级（一般都是前65名），周训书要在周五有个很稳定的发挥。晋级的选手将至少获得1400 美金（人民币9877） 的奖金，相当于中巡赛中至少进入前25名。

星期四的比赛中，在第四洞打出了标准杆之后，周训书在第五洞开球的时候被打扰了——在周挥杆的时候，第四洞的巡场开始大声地对着她的对讲机报分数。周的球下水了，这洞也打了个双柏忌，也让周当时的成绩降到高于标准杆三杆。两洞之后，第七洞周再次开球下水，这洞他打了柏忌，成绩落到高于标准杆四杆。

稳定下来之后，周训书在第八和第十三洞分别打出小鸟球，周打出了柏忌在标准杆为三杆的17洞，周以一个小鸟球结束了今天的比赛。