Golf: Queenslander sets hot pace

Queenslander Steven Bowditch in action during the New Zealand Golf Open. Picture / Dean Purcell

An Australian set a pace to match the broiling conditions on the opening day of the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour yesterday.

But it wasn't one of the usual suspects dishing out the rough treatment. Instead it was young Queenslander Steven Bowditch who took advantage of near perfect conditions in the morning to rocket around the par 72 layout in eight-under 64.

When he looked over his shoulder last night he would have seen a Scot, a Welshman, a posse of Swedes and a few of his cobbers in hot pursuit.

The course for the $1.5 million Open - the first to be co-sanctioned with the European Tour - was left licking its wounds, torn up by a pack of players who rolled their sleeves up and gave it a good duffing.

When the dust settled last night, 116 of the 156 starters had broken par. If the weather is similar today, the halfway cut could be as low as four-under. Given those statistics any player failing to make the red numbers yesterday may have been feeling a shade embarrassed.

Bowditch bolted around the front nine in five-under and his only hiccups came with bogeys on 14 and 18.

"Today I hit the ball pretty good and the putts went in," he said, making the most infuriating of all ball sports sound desperately simple. "I got a new Callaway [driver] this week. I've got another 10-15 metres [in length] and it goes straighter. I couldn't ask for more."

Of the five players one shot back, Scot Alistair Forsyth was the only one to go bogey-free. Three birdies in the last four holes gave him a rollicking finish.

Four Swedes are in the hunt, Chris Hanell, Niclas Fasth and Joakim Haeggman, all at seven-under, and Pierre Fulke is one shot back. Hanell and Haeggman would have been sitting alongside Bowditch had they not dropped shots on their last hole yesterday.

The experienced Haeggman, a former Ryder Cup player, has got the course worked out. "Keep making birdies. That's all I've got to do," which despite yesterday's evidence is easier said than done.

He set out to make a dent in the easier front nine yesterday "and then hang on on the back side".

Haeggman had some grim news for those hoping to see the course trip up the players this week rather than have the players dancing a jig all over it. "If the wind doesn't blow, the greens aren't going to firm up that much. They will stay fairly tacky [which is player-speak for helpful]. A winning score could be 20 under or lower."

Of the big New Zealand interests, David Smail shot two-under 70, steady but not startling; Michael Campbell has a hard day ahead after shooting 73, which included a birdie at the 18th. The best-placed New Zealander is Auckland teaching pro Stuart Malcolmson, whose five-under 67 has him in a share of 17th.

Defending champion Terry Price of Queensland shot a 69; the highest-ranked player, world No 30 West Australian Nick O'Hern, recovered from a dusty start to shoot 70; former British Open champion Paul Lawrie slipped up when he dropped shots at three of the last four holes for a 71; and pre-tournament favourite Craig Parry had a 68.

Australian Open tennis mixed doubles champion Scott Draper was out early and bagged four birdies in a 71.