Derksen takes two-shot lead after opening round in China

China’s Ye Wo-cheng had to settle for a round of 79 as he became the youngest player in tour history at the age of 12 years and 242 days, but 16-year-old compatriot Dou Ze-cheng carded a two-under-par 70 at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin.

And Derksen, without a win since 2005, then birdied two of the last three holes to card a six-under 66 and finish two ahead of France’s Raphael Jacquelin, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and rtls.

Rumford won the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea on Sunday with an eagle three on the first hole of a three-man play-off, while Jacquelin won the Spanish Open a fortnight ago after a record-equalling nine-hole play-off.

Aphibarnrat finished fourth in the Avantha Masters in India, won the Malaysian Open the following week and then finished 11th behind Rumford at Blackstone Golf Club last week.

In contrast, Ye carded eight bogeys and just one birdie to lie 140th on seven over, but did produce one of the shots of the day when he holed a long chip for a bogey six on the sixth after losing a ball on the par-five.

“I tried to enjoy it, I was very nervous,” Ye told European Tour Radio after surpassing the record set by Guan Tianlang, who famously made the cut at the Masters last month aged 14 and was 13 years and 177 days old when he played in the same event last year.

Dou, who like Ye earnt his place in the field after coming through qualifying events, had four birdies and two bogeys in his round of 70 and said: “I started a little nervous but it was all pretty good. It was great out there.

“We were lucky to play seven or eight holes without much wind. The course gives you a few birdie chances, but there were some holes — like the fourth, ninth and 17th — which were playing really long into the wind.”

Derksen, who was one over par after five holes, said: “It was a funny day because I started well with a birdie from about five feet but then three-putted the third and fourth and ended up in three divots on the fairways later in the round.

That said, Carty and Jazayerli both found via a more complicated method factoring the past three seasons’ records — relevant here given the downtrodden nature of the Kansas City franchise — that it wasn’t until the 48-game mark when the current record became more predictive than a preseason expectation, based upon a weighted three-year record (35 percent for the previous year, 12 percent for two years ago, five percent for three years ago and 48 percent for .500, for the strong tendency of teams to regress to the mean). In light of that, the Royals are only about halfway to the point where they can be taken seriously as contenders.

Even so, their results so far are encouraging, particularly with regards to the rotation makeover in which they added James Shields, Ervin Santana and Wade Davis via trade, and re-signed late-season acquisition Jeremy Guthrie, leaving Luis Mendoza the only holdover. Their starters’ collective 3.85 ERA ranks fifth in the league, and their 56 percent quality start rate is fourth. Shields, Santana and Guthrie all have ERAs of 3.06 or below, though the latter’s 5.06 FIP — driven by a high home run rate — offers more cause for concern. In fact, the three besides Shields and Santana have FIPs of 4.96 or higher due mainly to their problems keeping the ball in the park.

As with last year, the team’s biggest strength appears to be its bullpen, which currently ranks second in the AL with a 2.67 ERA, and in a virtual tie for first at 10.6 strikeouts per nine, though their 33 percent rate of allowing inherited runners to score ranks 11th. Closer Greg Holland, who took over the job late last year after Jonathan Broxton was traded, has converted seven out of eight opportunities while striking out an eye-popping 16.4 per nine. Of their top six relievers in terms of usage, five (Holland, Kelvim Herrera, Tim Collins, Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen) are striking out more than a batter per inning with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of at least 3.0. Banished from the rotation after ugly performances last year, Hochever and Chen have combined to allow three runs (one earned) in 18 1/3 innings while striking out 22 thus far, offering hope that they can give Kansas City something for the combined $9.1 million they’re being paid this year.

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Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to thwart these wireless assaults, including new luggage products and common-sense steps that protect your devices and real time Location system.

As it turned out, Tzucker’s card didn’t have an RFID chip. And she was lucky. Before the cigar-loving thieves could finish their shopping excursion, her bank’s fraud detection algorithm tagged her purchases as suspicious, disabled her account and refunded the fraudulent transactions. And that may be one of the most effective solutions — having a bank that can stop fraud quickly and cover any losses. After the incident, Tzucker also switched to using a prepaid debit card when she traveled, which contains no personal information.

But others haven’t been so fortunate. Nearly half of all travelers use their smartphones to access the Internet when they’re on vacation, according to a recent survey by security firm Kaspersky Lab. One-third of phone users store their passwords to online accounts, including bank and social networks, on their devices. While any phone can be a target, the most vulnerable wireless devices run on the Android operating system, according to Kaspersky.