Hickmott leads Vic PGA with record 61
Australasian PGA Tour | 2009 Victorian PGA Championship | Round One | 05 Feb 2009
Victoria’s Luke Hickmott has fired a course record 11 under 61 to take the clubhouse lead half way through the first round of the Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship.
Starting on the tenth tee, Hickmott, the 2003 Victorian Amateur Champion made the most of the favourable morning conditions with the highlight being a flurry of seven birdies in the middle of his round to give him a three shot lead.
At one stage he was as far as five shots in front.
Hickmott finished his front nine in 30 after birdies on 12 and 13, and started his run by picking up seven shots from the 15th through to the third. His unblemished card saw two more birdies on the way home on the 5th and 9th holes and a new course record created.
He beat the previous official record of 9 under 63 held by Cameron Percy (2008) and Marc Leishman (2008) at the Sanctuary Lakes Greg Norman designed course.
“It was great! I had good playing partners (Kim Felton and David Lutterus) and managed to hole a few putts so it was an enjoyable day,” said the 27 year old from Melton.
“It couldn’t have been easier, there was no wind and the greens were really soft and the fairways here are really wide. The course just played perfectly.”
After playing last year on the Canadian Tour, Hickmott retained his card but admitted he had been struggling with his game over the past twelve months. Today’s effort couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I have had 11 under before but I have been struggling a bit lately so it’s probably come at a good time to help me a bit with confidence.”
“My form has been really really ordinary and I have just been working hard with my coach the past couple of weeks to try to find some form, so I’m slowly coming back.”
Hickmott revealed that it was as recent as yesterday when practicing on the range with his coach Darren Cole that things started to click.
“I was working at the range yesterday with Darren and for the first time in a long time I felt like the ball could actually go straight. I hit some loose shots today but got away with them. Here you can off the tee because the fairways are quite generous, but the rest of my game was really good.”
With the afternoon groups teeing off at 11:40, Hickmott currently holds a three shot lead from fellow Victorian Ryan Haywood, whose 8 under 64 included six birdies and an eagle at the par five, 12th.
Starting at the first, Haywood picked up birdies at four and nine but it was his back nine that brought him home.
Hitting down the right side of the fairway at 12, Haywood used a four iron approach shot to give him a four foot putt for eagle, which he followed with three consecutive birdies.
“Last week I didn’t drive the ball very well and today I was still struggling for the first seven or eight holes and I just picked up a little thing myself on the tee and said something to my brother David (his caddy) and then I hit the drive straight down the middle and didn’t miss a shot after that!”
Last week’s runner up Scott Laycock is tied for third a further shot back on seven under after an opening round 65 alongside Queensland’s Andrew Bonhomme with Stuart Bouvier fifth on six under. WA’s Kim Felton and Sydney’s Ewan Porter are tied sixth after opening rounds of five under 67.
The afternoon groups currently on course include last week’s Subaru Victorian Open winner Ashley Hall, Peter Senior, Michael Long, Craig Spence, Peter Fowler and Andre Stolz.
Source – PGA Tour
