Booth fires record 62 to lead NSW Open

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2006 New South Wales Open | Round One | 09 Nov 2006

A flurry of birdies late in the day saw Sydney’s Danny Vera surge up the leaderboard to within a shot of Tocumwal golfer Rodney Booth at the conclusion of the first round of the $125,000 Proton New South Wales Open at Sydney’s Moore Park golf course.

Vera’s seven-under-par 63 put him just a shot out off the lead set by first-day front-runner Booth, who made the most of the calmer early morning conditions to post a course record 62.

Booth had a purple patch of seven birdies in nine holes to hold a two-shot lead for most of the day until Vera birdied four of his last eight holes to loom into contention, finishing just a shot out of the lead.

Two more Victorians, Luke Hickmott (64) and Andrew Martin (65) were in third and fourth spots, just ahead of a handful of players at four-under par.

All the talk, though, was about the unheralded Booth, who admitted he rarely plays north of the Murray River, even though he actually lives in New South Wales.

Booth played some “awesome” golf in the morning to notch a 62 and smash the course record by a shot that ACT amateur Andrew McKenzie fired in the 2004 City of Sydney Championship around the inner-city layout.

“It’s hard to believe this is a public golf course,” commented one of the tournament’s big guns, Terry Price, after opening his week with a two-under 68.

“It’s a great test of golf and if the wind gets up a bit at the weekend it will be a real tough test for everyone. As a matter of fact par might turn out to be a good score around here.”

As far as Booth is concerned it’s been a case of “less is better” as he admitted he had cut back on the number of pro-ams he had been playing in recent months.

“Amazingly, playing less seems to have improved my golf,” he said.

“I got married in May and my wife Maggie and I have been setting up in our new house since then and as a result I have not been traveling as much. So I made a decision to play a bit less and its actually paying off.”

After bogeying the eighth Booth looked to be doing nothing special and was stuck in the middle of the pack at one-under-par, before igniting with a string of birdies.

“There was really no special shot that set it all off or anything like that,” he said. “I hit every fairway bar a couple of the par fives and I still managed to birdie both of those with good second shots.”

“I also drove the ninth (286m) and believe it or not I only holed two putts over 10 feet. I hit the driver really well today, though, and that really helped and I only had 27 putts.”

Booth is probably much better known in Victoria where he completed his traineeship and admitted he played few pro-ams north of the Murray River.

“I usually play all the Victorian ones though,” he said.

Booth said there were not that many events for him to play in this summer – at the moment.

“Of course all that could change if I could win this,” he smiled.

Naturally the likes of Vera, Hickmott, Ben Bunny (66), Brendan Chant (66), Chris Gray (66), Matthew Keegan (66), Ben Manderson (66) and several seasoned professionals like former US PGA champion Wayne Grady (67) might have something to say about that in the next couple of days.

Former leading NSW amateur Mitchell Brown would have been more than satisfied with his first round as a professional, shooting a one-under-par 69 to be seven off the lead.

Star 17-year-old World Junior Amateur champion Matthew Giles left Moore Park a little disappointed with his two-over-par 72 but determined to bounce back and make the cut.

Leading amateur was Victorian Ashley Hall, who came in late in the day with a slick four-under-par 66.

Hall, from the Huntingdale club in Melbourne, was leading qualifier on Monday at Eastlake in a field of more than 100 players chasing qualifying spots.

Other scores of note included Channel Nine rugby league commentator Paul ’Fatty’ Vautin’s 14-over 84, which was actually better than it looked after a horror start which saw him 10-over-par after six holes, before bouncing back on his second nine.

Other scores of note included Anthony Painter’s one-under 69, Kurt Barnes (68), Scott Draper (71), Marcus Cain (68), amateur Rick Kulacz (67) and Adam Groom (69).

Source – NSWGA