Percey claims early lead at Vic Open
BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2002 Victorian Open | Round One | 24 Oct 2002
South Australian and occasional Asian Tour player, Adrian Percey, fired a superb -8 (64) at the Portsea Golf Club to close round one with a three shot lead at the $100,000 Victorian Open Championship.
Percey has played seven events on the Davidoff Asian PGA Tour this year with little success. He sits at 108th on the Davidoff Order of Merit with winnings close to USD$6000.
He leads a group of five players at 67 and in equal 2nd place including Grant Dodd, Ewan Porter, Craig Carmichael, who won the recent Victorian PGA, amateur Alistair Presnell and Kiwi Alastair Sidford.
Six players, Tony Carolan, David Gleeson, David Diaz, Aaron Rayson, Gary Simpson and amateur Kane Street, posted -4 (68) to close in equal 7th, one shot clear of Andre Stolz, Andrew Bonhomme, Scott Hend and others.
A surprise for the field today was the appearance of five-time British Open winner, Peter Thomson, who accepted an invitation to play the opening round today. Thomson, who has won the Victorian Open title three times in his career, is part of a two-day national pro-am in which corporate guests play a stableford teams competition alongside the pros for the first two days.
The field of 156 professionals, including 30 amateurs will play the normal four-round stroke format, with alternating rounds at the Sorrento and Portsea Golf Clubs for the first two days (Thursday and Friday). It will then revert to a normal tournament when the field is cut to the top 60 pros for the final two rounds at the Sorrento Golf Club on the weekend.
Photo courtesy of Rob Ferris
