Tasker takes narrow lead in to weekend

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2006 New South Wales Open | Round Two | 10 Nov 2006

Stiffening afternoon breezes made scoring difficult and ensured Tura Beach trainee professional Mitchell Tasker ended day two a one-shot leader of the $125,000 Proton New South Wales Open at Moore Park Golf Course today.

Tasker made the most of a stunning first nine holes in the morning round, which saw him have a hole-in-one and five birdies – going out in a mere 28 strokes.

He held it together on the second nine as scoring became more difficult before finishing with an impressive six-under-par 64 which, coupled with his first-round 68, put him atop the leaderboard at eight under par and a one-shot leader over another NSW player Nicholas Robb.

A shot further back was overnight leader Rodney Booth, who battled bravely in the afternoon breezes to finish with a two-over-par 74.

With a course-record eight-under 62 in the first round, Booth was quite content to be just two shots out of the lead.

Robb’s was also an impressive effort as the Royal Sydney teaching professional only got a start at Moore Park on a sponsor’s invitation.

The respected teaching professional made the most of the invitation to shoot 68-65 (seven-under) to be a shot off the lead.

Three players – rookie professional Mitchell Brown, Danny Vera (NSW) and Victorian Andrew Martin were a shot further back in equal fourth spot, on 135 (five-under-par).

The story of the day, though, was Tasker, the 21-year-old south coast youngster who is currently rated the No 1 trainee in the country.

That status will also see him teeing it up in next week’s MFS Australian Open at Royal Sydney, an honour he rates as the greatest in his golfing life.

His first nine at Moore Park might rate up that high as well as he agreed it was certainly the hottest nine-hole score of his life.

“I actually thought about it when I was getting ready to putt on the 18th (his ninth),” Tasker said. “I told myself to be sure not to three-putt as two putts would mean I had 29 shots for the nine holes. I had a good read on it and hit the putt perfectly. It went right in the middle of the hole to give me 28 shots for the nine.”

“I didn’t make anything of note on the second nine. I hit a few good putts but they just didn’t go in. The seventh and eighth were playing pretty tough today too.”

Tasker later revealed he wasn’t completely sure the ace had gone in because the 15th green had a false front on it and he thought the ball might have spun off the front.

“I told myself I had probably hit it too well for that to happen. It actually landed just past the pin and spun back in,” he said.

“When we realised it had gone in for an ace there were high fives all-round, that’s for sure.”

Tasker can’t wait to tackle Royal Sydney next week.

“I haven’t played there yet but I’ve been out for a chip and a putt and a look around and I can’t wait, it looks terrific,” he said. “I made the cut at a couple of the Von Nida Tour events in Queensland in the past couple of weeks and finished midfield in both of them. There is a long way to go here but it great to be there in the thick of things.”

While rookies dominated the leaderboard after two rounds, perfectly-poised just four shots out of the lead was in-form Victorian Cameron Percy who looks certain to contend over the weekend.

A win here would see Percy steal the Von Nida Tour’s Order of Merit title right from under the nose of Marc Leishman, who is this week campaigning at Tour School in the United States.

Leishman won the Toyota Southern Classic and Cairns Classic earlier in the season while Percy beat Leishman in a sudden-death playoff to win the Queensland Masters and also won the Queensland PGA Championship last week.

Percy also won last year’s Victorian PGA Championship, beating Steven Bowditch down the stretch.

Another great story was the start by former New South Wales and New Zealand amateur champion Mitchell Brown, who is making his professional debut this week.

With a 69-66 start, Brown can make the ideal start to his fledgling professional career with a win here and is poised to make a weekend charge.

Leading amateur after two rounds was young Bankstown amateur Danny An at four-under-par 136.

The cut was set at one-over-par 141.

Among the notables to miss out included Chris Gray, Lucas Parsons, Ossie Moore, Adam Groom, Euan Walters, 2003 champion Craig Carmichael, Shane Tait and former rugby league legend Paul ’Fatty’ Vautin.

On a positive note, some of the big guns who will be around at the weekend included 2002 champion Terry Price as well as Anthony Painter, Marcus Cain, Kurt Barnes, Wayne Grady and Brad McIntosh.

Source – NSWGA