Adam Scott played what he called “stress-free golf” and birdied five of his final eight holes on Thursday for a 7-under 64 and a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Australian Masters.
Scott lost in playoffs in two previous appearances at Huntingdale Golf Club in 2002 and 2003.
Daniel Fox, who started on the 10th hole, birdied his final five holes on the front nine for a 65 and was in second place. Three other Australians were tied for third with 67s — Mathew Goggin, Peter Wilson and Matthew Stieger.
Starting on the back nine, Scott made the turn in 2-under 33. He birdied the second, third and fourth holes on the front nine, added another on the par-5 seventh and finished with a birdie on the ninth.
“That’s the start I was after,” Scott said. “There was no wind, and weighing everything up, there was no need to challenge it. It was pretty stress-free golf.”
Scott had caddie David Clark on his bag on Thursday, and said he expected the Englishman to do the “bulk of the work” next year with former longtime caddie Steve Williams on duty for nine or 10 tournaments.
Fox and Goggin were the only late starters on the leaderboard after winds picked up about midday.
American amateur Bryson DeChambeau, playing in Scott’s threesome, shot 69 and was in a large group five shots behind. His round included an eagle from the fairway on the par-4 eighth.
tough to pick after rd 2
Noida: Vani Kapoor, Smriti Mehra and Gursimar Badwal finished with identical totals of 149 to share the lead at end of the second round of 17th leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour, here on Thursday.
Trailing the trio in fourth position is Neha Tripathi who finished with a total score of 151 after Round two.
Starting the day in tied third position, Smriti carded a level par score, the best performance of the day to jump into the tied first position. The Kolkata professional had an eventful front nine with two consecutive birdies on the 1st and 2nd holes and a bogey and a double on the 4th and 5th holes respectively. Her tally of five birdies was the maximum by any player on the day.
Kapurthala’s Gursimar who started the day in second position came up with a cautious performance to end the day with a score of 2 over 74.
Vani had a woeful day in the field on Thursday as she returned with a card of 5 over 77. The Hero Order Merit leader’s round consisted of six bogies on the 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 16thholes, with just a lone birdie on the 14th.
Randhawa tied 4th
Manila: Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa holed three birdies in the last four holes to register a four-under 68 and move to a crowded tied-fourth place after the first round of the Resorts World Manila Masters.
The 43-year-old is two shots behind Nicholas Fung, who snatched the first round lead with a super six-under 66, four days after missing out on a maiden Asian Tour victory.
SSP Chawrasia, starting on the 10th, had a strange seven-hole run, during which he birdied 14th and 15th, double bogeyed the 16th and then birdied the 17th and 18th. Then he bogeyed the first and second during his round of two-under 70 that put him in tied-27th place.