Scott enjoys strange day
PERTH golfer Scott Strange is the surprise round leader after the opening round of the rain-affected New Zealand Open at Gulf harbour, north of Auckland, today.
Strange, who competes full-time on the Asian PGA Tour, winning the Philippines Open in May, birdied three of his closing four holes, and drained a six-metre birdie putt at the last to grab the lead with a four-under-par 67.
He leads by one shot from fellow Perth players Greg Chalmers, Jarrod Moseley and Kim Felton, with a further nine players, among them former New Zealand Open winners Craig Parry and Michael Long, locked another shot off the pace.
Chalmers buried the memory of his Huntingdale horror to grab a share of second
Chalmers, who blew a chance at victory in the Australian Masters last weekend, with a five-putt in his final round, recorded six birdies as he looks to end an eight-year title drought on the PGA Tour of Australasia since claiming the 1998 Australian Open in Adelaide.
Chalmers claimed he felt no lingering effects of his nightmare on the ninth green during the closing day of the Masters.
“What happened last week won’t happen again, and I’ve already forgotten about it,” Chalmers said.
“There is such a fine line in this game.
“I managed to keep the momentum going, and I don’t think I did anything differently other than to get the darn thing in the hole.”
While Australians enjoyed a record-breaking year on the US PGA Tour, Chalmers struggled and forfeited his card.
He missed the cut in 20 of 28 tournament, including his closing six events, before forfeiting his card with season earnings of $US151,000 ($A193,105).
He returned home for a month’s break to resume competition by finishing joint runner-up last week in Melbourne.
“Huntingdale was best I have played all year,'’ he said.
“It just seems that when I crossed the International Dateline and found myself again in the southern hemisphere, I was a lot happier person for some reason.”
Moseley, 34, kick-started his round in brilliant manner when he holed a 30-metre chip shot for an eagle at the par-five 11th hole that he played as the second of his round.
He then raced to four-under par with birdies at No.12 and No.13, but his form subsequently fluctuated - including a double-bogey at the par-four 6th hole, his 15th, after his tee shot cannoned off a cart path and went out of bounds.
“It was a great way to commence the round with an eagle and then two birdies, so I could not have asked for a better start,” Moseley said.
“The outward nine was playing the tougher of the nines and it was pleasing to only drop one shot going out.
“But I then had the only bad swing of the day when I carved my drive at my 15th straight right and then watched it go out-of-bounds
“`It could easily have got pretty messy from there on but I finished solid in the rain and I am pretty happy to shoot three under.”
AAP