Scott, Stadler start and end the day in style
IN: News | Australasian PGA | Johnnie Walker Classic (2006) | Round One | by Bruce Young | 09 Feb 2006
Adam Scott and morning leader, Kevin Stadler, lead the field after day one of the Johnnie Walker Classic at Perth's Vines Resort. Although playing on opposite sides of the draw, they were both blessed by perfect playing conditions and their scores reflected not only their own quality play but conditions conducive to good scoring.
At the end of day one, close to 65 players were under par suggesting that the cut at the completion of 36 holes will be around one or two under.
Gentle breezes and clear skies greeted the early starters on day one and last week's unlucky loser in Dubai, Richard Green, continued his early season form with a blistering start when he birdied the first three holes of his round to move to three under and held an early lead over Monday qualifiers, Luke Hickmott and American Eric Egloff. When Green bogeyed his fourth hole he was back in a group of four players including himself, Egloff, Hickmott and local Perth golfer, Brett Rumford.
By mid morning Egloff, who was, given the restricted nature of this event, forced to Monday qualify despite having finished runner up at the Australasian Tour School in December, had taken the lead outright when he eagle the 18th hole - his 9th - and then added further birdies at his 11th and 12th holes to move to five under. He was brought unstuck to some extent by a double bogey at the 5th and another bogey at his 16th but bounced back with a birdie at the 17th to finish with 69.
Richard Green produced an impressive run through the middle of his round when he birdied his 9th, 10th and 11th holes to move to five under and join Egloff in the lead. He would survive what was a roller coaster back nine with five birdies two bogies and just the one par to shoot 33 and 66 for the round.
Despite the relatively strong easterly breezes which had arisen by mid morning on day one, the early scoring reflected both the quality of this field and the soft conditions of the golf course. The soft fairways and greens will slowly but surely be replaced by firmer conditions as the event approaches the weekend, especially - given the ongoing weather forecast - and the sort of scoring we are seeing so early in the tournament is not likely to be repeated.
It would be tournament invite, Kevin Stadler, who was the early standout in that regard. The twenty five year old received an invite here via his management company who also manage Fred Couples. Clearly there was some leverage there but he did not let them or the organisers down with his start today. He is in Australia essentially to play the Jacob's Creek event next week in Adelaide as he has now returned to the Nationwide Tour after an unsuccessful trip to the PGA Tour in 2005.
It was a stretch through the middle of his round that would prove not only crucial to Stadler's score but extraordinary in every respect. From his 9th hole he reeled off six consecutive birdies and then added another two holes later to be seven under for eight holes. It was a run of golf that saw him move to nine under for the tournament before a three putt bogey at the 17th took a little of the heat out of the round. He then failed to birdie the last after having just a five iron in his hand for his approach and was frustrated by that.
Stadler is what is more commonly referred to as a 'chip of the old block'. His mannerisms and appearances are close to those of his more famous dad Craig but clearly he has a game at times which matches that of his Masters winning Dad. "I beat him occasionally but if we are both playing our best then he can still get the better of me," he said.
"I like this course as it is not set up to just suit the bombers," he said. "They will still have an advantage but it does bring the rest of the field up to them as placement is the key. I found the greens just great also. I felt comfortable on the greens yesterday in the pro-am and today I putted better than I have for two years."
In third place behind Stadler and Green were the two locals, Nick O'Hern and Brett Rumford. O'Hern has a game tailor made for this layout. It is a course that provides reward for strategic and thoughtful golf and that is O'Hern to a tee. He missed just one green and had sixteen chances at birdie. He has played reasonably well in his first two events back in 2006, they being in Qatar and Dubai, and if he was to finally win a big event - and here in Perth - the locals would 'go off' as the saying goes.
They were the best amongst the morning players and as the afternoon field headed out the conditions remained similar to those in the morning and in fact by early afternoon the breeze, which had been at its strongest in the mid morning, abated slightly but on the other hand the temperatures increased. It appeared the afternoon field therefore would have no real disadvantage and the scoring was about to prove that exactly right.
K.J. Choi would be the first big threat to the leader, Stadler, when he moved to seven under with a birdie at the 14th. He made a great save at the 16th before he pulled his tee shot left at the last and could only manage a par five despite a great third shot after the penalty drop. He finished one behind the leaders but it would be a player in the group behind him who would stake his claim to the lead.
Defending champion Adam Scott has spent the last few weeks working hard on making a few subtle changes to his swing with the prospect of Augusta in mind. He was keen to improve the plane of his takeaway in order that he could hit a draw more comfortably and appears to have benefited from that work.
He looked very solid today as he cruised through the front nine in 31 which included a an eagle at the 6th after a driver and two iron at the 591 yard hole to 30 feet. He moved to six under with a birdie at the 11th from 14 feet but then dropped a shot at the 14th. He was about to unleash a strong finish however and birdied the last three holes. At the 16th he had his tee shot tracking towards the hole before it came to rest less than two away.
At the last he had a great chance of making it a birdie, birdie, eagle finish when he hit his approach - after a brilliant drive - to 12 feet but could not convert. Still, at 8 under 64, he has a share of the lead with Stadler and might be favoured by the draw tomorrow. It is hard to imagine that tomorrow's afternoon field will be blessed with the same conditions as the morning field enjoyed today.
After his round Scott talked about the benefit of the work he had been doing on the swing change. "Certainly playing that little draw was a little easier than it was last year which is essentially the idea of changing my backswing a little. I got myself out of position a couple of times resulting in bogeys but it felt good."
Scott is happy in front of the pack as many of his wins have come that way. He is not quite in front on his own but he is in front nonetheless and given his front running record he might just be a hard man to run down.
Photo - Anthony Powter
