Bradley Hughes renews love affair with Huntingdale
BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2004 MasterCard Masters | Round Two | 10 Dec 2004
Bradley Hughes has developed a reputation in golf for being a very good front runner. When he starts playing well he is very hard to catch. Those of us who had the chance to see him win the Tournament Players Championship at Robina Woods in 1996 are only too aware of his front running ways. In that event he led from early on day two and never gave the rest of the field a look in, eventually winning by ten over Peter Lonard and Robert Stephens.
“I feel I go all right in front,” he said, “as I tend to dismiss what’s happened the day before, wipe the slate clean and just head out as if I am starting all over again. I don’t watch leaderboards and just keep focused on the job at hand.”
He loves Huntingdale, having won twice here in 1993 and 1998 and so the combination of these two factors, given that he has found form, would suggest that the 37-year-old is going to take a lot of catching over the weekend. This in fact was the first event he had played at Huntingdale since that win in 1998.
“I don’t really know,” said Hughes when asked what makes the combination of Bradley Hughes and Huntingdale work so well. “I guess I have a definite game plan and stick to it and know the subtleties of the wind here. I like the changes that have been made here and liked the course before anyway.”
Hughes said that he is playing as well now as he has ever played.
“I really feel that if I had have been on the USPGA Tour this season I could have done very well such is the manner in which I am now playing. I have pretty much gotten rid of my bad shots and it is a lot more solid and going much straighter. I have played consistently well all year.”
Much of that improved form is put down to just playing golf rather than getting bogged down with his swing technique.
“I still work with my Melbourne based coach but more as a reference than anything else and am trying to become more self-reliant.”
Hughes returned to the course at 6:50am today to finish off round one which he left at the 12th last night, when thunder and lightning stopped play, facing a two metre putt to birdie that hole to move to 8 under. It’s a fair bet to assume he was working on those length putts this morning before heading out. He made it and then added six consecutive pars to finish at 8 under 64. He was back on the course an hour later and when he birdied the first in round two he was on his way again. It took until the 7th to birdie again but then three birdies over the closing four holes in round two saw him finish with 66.
“No, I actually didn’t work on that putt,” he said later referring to the first putt of the morning. “I was determined not to get too focused on it and in fact didn’t go near my marker until the whistle blew this morning then just recommenced my normal routine with a putt.”
Jarrod Mosley was one of those who had to complete his round this morning and added a bogey and birdie to his overnight score of three under to finish with a 69. When he returned to the course just an hour later he recorded seven birdies and two pars in his second round of 67 and had moved within five of the tearaway leader, Hughes.
Moseley lost his card in Europe when he finished just €13 short of the 115th spot on the European Tour, which would have given him full exemption for 2005. To his credit he then returned to the European Tour School where he came from the clouds over the last two rounds to finish in 25th position and regain his full playing rights. It should be remembered that he finished runner up here last year as part of the four man playoff with Allenby, Scott and Parry and said later, “I always play well here even in my amateur days there was something about Huntingdale that seemed to suit.”
Just two groups behind him however, Hughes was continuing on his merry way.
As these players were finishing their rounds, the group of Allenby, Lonard and Nitties was about to head out in their quest to chase Hughes and the likes of Moseley and David McKenzie. McKenzie agonizingly missed his USPGA Tour card at the final hurdle when he missed by just one shot and also let a position inside the top twenty on the Nationwide Tour money list slip at the last event of the year. He will play the Nationwide Tour again in 2005. McKenzie seems to get better with age and experience and it may just be that he will become a USPGA Tour player at the age of 38 in 2006. After his near misses over the past month a good break is well overdue. McKenzie was around in 68 today after completing his first round earlier in 67 to be at nine under and sharing third with Lonard.
Storms were forecast for later in the day but for much of the day the conditions remained perfect and the leaderboard reflected just that. While Hughes had pinched a break on the field, Allenby was quickly closing and when he reached 11 under for the tournament through ten holes, it appeared that he might just be the one to catch his fellow Victorian.
A bogey at the 13th slowed the momentum but it could have been worse. He found the bunker from the tee with a pushed two iron and then thinned his next through the green when trying to pick his second too cleanly from a nasty lie in that bunker. He was desperately lucky to be able to even play his next and managed to run it onto the edge of the green from where he two putted for bogey. So while he may well have been disappointed with the somewhat unforced error, he is perhaps thankful it was not worse.
Playing with Allenby was Peter Lonard who started with a miraculous par at the first. After finding the trees left with his drive and then somehow managing to get some sort of swing, he forced his second through the trees some thirty metres right of the green.
“That second could have gone anywhere he said. “It was one of those ones that I thought if I hit it hard, it would force the trees to part on the way through. I couldn’t afford to do anything other than hit it hard, but it came out much hotter than I expected.”
From there, he pitched the fifty odd metres to within three metres and when he holed out he knew he had dodged a bullet.
Taking full advantage of that escape he then birdied four of the next five and he was making his move. He followed a birdie at the 10th with a bogey at the 12th after finding the bunker from the tee, but at the next hit his tee shot to two metres and he was at nine under again. Six pars completed the round but he is again threatening and although five behind Hughes he is only one out of second pace.
“I hit a lot of good shots early but went a bit skewiff with the driver,” he added. “I hit a lot of shots left and I am heading to the range now to work on it. I need to get within three or so tomorrow as Brad (Hughes) is a confidence player and has shown he is a good front runner.”
Richard Green, Ricky Barnes and Geoff Ogilvy are on 8 under along with Moseley. Although yet to win a title in his professional career, Ogilvy has won a lot of money but he will be keen to finally get across the line. It would be even sweeter if he could do so in front of his home crowds. If he is to do so he will need to outplay some quality, in form players.
Of interest is that amongst the seventeen players inside the top ten (nine are in a share of ninth), six players have previously won this event and there is every likelihood that the eventual winner will come from one of those. The six players (Hughes 2, Allenby 1, Lonard 2, Senior 2, Parry 3 and Campbell 1) have eleven MasterCard Masters titles between them.
Anthony Painter captured some interest late in the day when he was out in 29 and then birdied the 15th to go to ten under for the day. A bogey, bogey, double bogey finish however destroyed any chance of a course record.
So tomorrow, the two Victorians Bradley Hughes and Robert Allenby will be paired in the last group.
Photo – Anthony Powter
