Australian Steven Bowditch gathered a double-figure haul of birdies in an eight under par 64 to take the lead from a quintet of players after the opening day of the Holden New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour Country Club near Auckland.
Bowditch, 21, carded five birdies in each half but dropped shots at both the 14th and 18th as he moved ahead of the Swedish trio of Niclas Fasth, Chris Hanell and Joakim Haeggman, Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth and Australian Simon Nash. A further eight players were tied at six under par 66 with another 11 at five under.
The young Queenslander admitted he almost quit golf 12 months ago after becoming increasingly frustrated with his game. After a break of several months, enthusiasm replaced disillusion.
He worked hard on the practice range for a month before he and girlfriend Trudy jumped in a car to follow the Pro-Am circuit around Queensland. Bowditch quickly regained his form and towards the end of 2004 he was more on the leaderboard than off it.
He won the Queensland Open in November on the Von Nida Tour then finished third in the Australian Open and fourth in the Australian Masters to end the year 14th on the Australasian Order of Merit with earnings of $A140,421.
Bowditch, who joined The European tour last week as an affiliated member, is hoping to earn his full card through his play and his top performances late last year have already gained him some invites on the Tour.
He said: "I was having a tough time of it at this time last year. I just didn't feel like playing golf. It all started to come together again late last year and now I'm just wanting to keep the ball rolling and see where it takes me.”
Haeggman, who defends his Qatar Masters title next month, briefly joined Bowditch at the top of the leaderboard with his eighth birdie at the 17th but over-did his approach to the last into a corporate tent to finish on a sour note.
He was particularly pleased with his play around the testing cliff holes on the back nine – the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th. He had birdie chances at all four and made two of them, one from ten feet the other a long range putt.
He said: ``The round was very good striking wise and I holed some nice putts.’’
Fasth, 32, said he had no complaints apart from his one bogey at the par three eighth hole. He said: ``I hit a very bad five iron and it plugged in the right bunker. But it was good out there. The greens were rolling truly but they can’t make them much quicker or the slopes will take over.’’
Fasth said he experienced a frustrating year in 2004 and was looking to playing really well again”. He added:I felt like I started to get on top of my game last week at Royal Melbourne (he finished tied for 39th in the Heineken Classic) and I was happy with that. I putted well today but I can play better.”
Fellow Swede, Hanell, got to eight under par with three holes to play, but after parring his 16th and 17th holes, he dropped a shot on his last (the ninth) to join Fasth and Forsyth on seven under. The Scotsman birdied the 17th and 18th in a strong finish and did not drop a shot.
Last week’s Heineken Classic winner at Royal Melbourne, Craig Parry of Australia, started in spectacular fashion, making an eagle on the par four first hole. He also had six birdies and four bogeys in his 68.
