O'Malley on fire at New South Wales Open

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2003 New South Wales Open | Round One | 20 Nov 2003

A slashing course record eight-under par 64 by pre-tournament favourite Peter O’Malley has made him the one to catch midway through the first day of the $100,000 Golfskins NSW Open Championship at Macquarie Links.

O’Malley made the most of an early tee time to grab a two-shot lead over a trio which included Victorian Marcus Fraser, ACT amateur Andrew McKenzie and Queenslander Ryan Haller midway through the opening day. Still it was O’Malley, the pride of Bathurst, who jumped out of the boxes with a birdie barrage, including a hot streak of four in a row from the third hole.

His round stands as a course record as Macquarie Links general manager Mike Saye revealed three-under par in the club championship was the previous best round at the south-western Sydney course since it opened 18 months ago.

Surprisingly O’Malley, plagued with putting problems over the years, suggested his putting had been the key to his hot scoring.

“I played some great golf today,” he said. “It was good to get out there early when it was nice and cool because it turned out muggy and hot in the afternoon. I hit the ball solid all day, holed some great putts and the greens were a little bit soft early on which helped as well.”

While O’Malley praised the greens, he said scoring might be a little more difficult if the greens firmed up a little, as they were expected to.

Other highlights of the morning included a hole-in-one at the 191m par three 12th by Queenslander Carl Smedley (77) while 17-year-old New South Wales amateur Anthony Storich, a club champion at Macquarie Links, eagled the 340m par four first hole when he holed his second shot from 100 metres.

Other hot rounds included 67s by Larry Austin (Victoria), WA amateur Michael Foster, SA amateur David Lutterus, and NSW pros Adam Wilcox and Sam Howe.

Much further down the leaderboard, but having just as much fun as the big guns was amateur invitee Paul ’Fatty’ Vautin.

Playing with a sponsor’s invite, Vautin hit a terrific drive down the par four first and clicked his heels in delight as the Monash four-marker set off to play in his first big golf event.

Minutes later he walked off the first green with a quadruple bogey eight and quickly had two more bogeys to slump to six over after three holes.

He was 10 over after 15 holes and finished with an 86 but was as effervescent as ever after his round, in which he used fellow former Australian rugby league star Johnny Gibbs as his caddy.

“Don’t worry, I’ll break 80 tomorrow, I’m sure of it,” he grinned.

Still O’Malley stole the show and a relaxed former Scottish Open champion made light work of the fabulous Macquarie Links layout.

Starting on the 10th hole, O’Malley birdied the 12th, 13th, 17th and 18th holes to reach the turn at four under before a bogey at the 340m par four first brought him back to three-under.

He then ignited with birdies at the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth holes to finish with a 64.

Good scores were also posted by US Amateur champion Nick Flanagan, who finished with a 69, along with Anthony Painter and Anthony Gilligan.

Australian Open champion Stephen Allan finished with a 70, as did Adam Groom, Kenny Druce, Brad Andrews, Mark Allen and amateur Simon Furneaux.

Source – NSWGA