Golf: Australian crafts two-shot lead

By BOB PEARCE

Australian Richard Moir, a world junior champion five years ago at the age of 14, has a two-stroke lead after the first round of the national amateur strokeplay championship yesterday.

The Melbourne-based Moir shot a five-under 67 on the Auckland Golf Club's Middlemore course which yielded only nine other scores under par.

Leading the chase on 69 in the 72-hole event were last year's matchplay champion, Ben Gallie, of Otago, and Queenslander Bronson LaCassie, who celebrated his 19th birthday yesterday.

Canterbury golfer Craig Choi and Mathew Holten, from Te Aroha, were one shot further back, while 18-year-old Scott Trebilco, of Tauranga, Regan MacRae, from New Plymouth, and former matchplay champions Chris Johns, of Auckland, and Australian Andrew Duffin were in a group on 71.

The reigning strokeplay champion, 17-year-old Sam Hunt, had an eight-over 80 and will need a big improvement today if he is to make the top 64 and ties who will contest the final 36 holes tomorrow.

Moir completed his round in the gloom of what had been a perfect day for golf on the 6177m Middlemore layout.

He is no stranger to New Zealand courses, with second placings in the national boys' and national under-23 championships, and has shown good form this year with victory in the Riversdale Cup in Victoria.

The highlight of his round was an eagle on the 476m par-five 17th, where he hit his second with a six-iron to two metres and sank the putt.

He also had five birdies and two bogeys.

The 23-year-old Gallie shot five rounds under par in the strokeplay last year, but was still a few shots off the pace set by Hunt. His moment came in the matchplay.

Yesterday he needed a good putt for a birdie on the last for his 69 and he was happy with his score, but modest about his golf.

"I got the most out of my game today," he said. "It was not as pretty as the score looks."

LaCassie has a New Zealand connection. His father, Colin, comes from Papakura, a few kilometres down the road from Middlemore. Bronson (his dad is a Western fan and he has a brother called Clint) is a member of the Queensland Academy of Sport.

Young Adam Church, from Miramar, provided an early highlight when he holed in one during the morning on the 195m 13th. He finished level par.

Among those on the same score was one of the oldest players in the field, Arthur Parkin, from Maungakiekie, a former national hockey representative.