By Brendan James
at The Australian Open
With winds gusting up to 50 knots across Sydney's La Perouse peninsula, the contenders are already starting to separate themselves from the pretenders midway through the first round of the Australian Open championship.
Deep into the first day, Asian Tour-based Queenslander Scott Hend holds a one-stroke lead after carding eight birdies against two bogies for a six-under-par 66. Novacastrian James Nitties, former Australian Open champion Stuart Appleby and Victorian journeyman Peter Wilson are one stroke behind. Stephen Allan, Adam Scott and little known American David Oh are a further shot back on four under.
Hend, who was in the first group off the 10th tee in the morning session, and Nitties were able to post their scores - both with just 26 putts - before the wind really started whipping across the NSW course.
It didn't seem to hamper Wilson though as he rattled off six birdies on his back nine for an inward 30. Appleby was also showing his return to form at the Australian Masters was no fluke as he rolled in five birdies through his opening nine holes to grab a share of second place.
Most of the afternoon players seem to be coping well with the conditions with plenty of red numbers dominating the leaderboard. With most of the afternoon field left to play nine holes, there were 40 players at even par or better.
That said, the Alister MacKenzie-designed conspired with Mother Nature to ruin the chances of many including visiting German player Max Kellner, who parred his final three holes to card a 16 over 88.
Post a Comment