Richard Ball steals day one lead at NSW Open

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

Pre-tournament favourite Peter O’Malley set the early pace but quietly-spoken South African-born professional Richard Ball came with a wet sail to steal the lead after day one of the $100,000 GolfSkins NSW Open Championship at Macquarie Links.

South Australian Ball fired an amazing course-record 62, including a stunning six birdies on the back nine to take a one-shot lead over the ACT’s Craig Carmichael and West Australian Malcolm Baker. A shot further back were O’Malley and Victorian Tim Elliott.

Ball, who won the South Australian PGA last year, was teaching from a pro shop in Western Australia and playing tournaments when possible but decided to get serious and has been working towards a big result. Born in South Africa, he lived for three years in the United Kingdom before moving to Australia in 1987.

“I’m cheering for the Aussies in the World Cup final but I was pretty gutted when the South Africans were knocked out,” he said.

Ball was second off in the afternoon and quickly got his name on the leaderboard grabbing birdies at three of his first four holes.

When he holed another one at the eighth he soon turned in four-under 32 before two more birdies at 10 and 11 had him on a hot streak.

Four more birdies in a row from the 14th through the 17th saw him finish with an amazing 10-under par around the south-western Sydney course.

“I drove it well and the greens here are great,” Ball said. “The course here is not too long and if you hit it in the right places you are going to score well.”

Ball played in two Von Nida Tour events in Queensland and finished 11th and 50th but explained he had been playing plenty of pro-ams as well and scoring well.

“I think I’m second on the South Australian Order of Merit,” he said. “My win in the South Australian PGA opened a few doors. I decided I just wanted to get out there and play as many as I could and see how I went.”

Baker, a former Englishman who now lives in Western Australia, birdied three of his first five holes and reached the turn in four-under par 32. He grabbed a hat-trick of birdies from the 12th and two more at the 16th and 17th holes for a slick nine-under par 63.

Carmichael began sedately enough but eagled the 519m par five eighth to go with birdies at one, three, five and nine to reach the turn six under par. He then birdied 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 to come home in 33 for his first-round 63.

At least 68 players were under par late on the first day, suggesting the 36-hole cut could easily be under par.

Earlier in the day Peter O’Malley stole the show with an eight-under par 64 which was easily the best of the morning rounds.

O’Malley made the most of an early tee time to grab an early two-shot lead over a trio which included Victorian Marcus Fraser, ACT amateur Andrew McKenzie and Queenslander Ryan Haller midway through the opening day.

O’Malley, the pride of Bathurst, also had a birdie blitz, including a hot streak of four in a row from the third hole.

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.”

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 66s to Queenslander Michael Wright and 67s by Larry Austin (Victoria), WA amateur Michael Foster, SA amateur David Lutterus, Victorians John Sutherland and Alan Paterson as well as 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.

Other notable scores were 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