Rookie Hunt tears up NSW PGA

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2007 New South Wales PGA Championship | Round One | 08 Feb 2007

Defending champion Paul Marantz has produced a near flawless display of ball striking to record a six-under-par round of 66 in the opening round of the NSW PGA Championship at Riverside Oaks. Marantz is in equal second position, one stroke behind Queensland rookie Lee Hunt (65).

Hunt took advantage of the calm morning conditions and receptive greens recording nine birdies on his way to a seven-under-par 65. Hunt spend over a year out of the game recovering from injury but is now enjoying his return to tournament golf. “I’ve been working pretty hard with my coach Peter Heiniger and now it’s coming around. The putter worked well today.”

Hunt explained he “enjoyed playing with some of the bigger names” lining up in the NSW PGA this week and is looking forward to the tussle with defending champion Paul Marantz.

While best known for his length, Marantz displayed extraordinary accuracy hitting all 18 greens including hitting all four par-fives in two shots. “I didn’t have to chip it much,” said the nonchalant Marantz, who has reduced his playing schedule to tie in with family commitments.

Marantz’s round of 66 puts him in a tie for second along side the 2006 Victorian PGA Champion Steven Jeffress and the 2006 Samoan Open Champion Joshua Carmichael (NZ).

Former touring professional and now resident professional at Richmond Golf Club, David Ecob, finished with a round of five-under-par 67 to finish in tied fifth position.

Day one provided ideal scoring conditions with overnight rain and only light wind assisting in over 80 players in the field breaking par. Some of the bigger names struggled with Greg Charlmers (74), Wayne Perske (74) and Craig Spence (75) having their work ahead of them if they are to survive the 36 hole cut.

Source – PGA Australia

Top 10
AUS/NZ

Position	Score	Player	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	-20	Scott Draper	70	66	67	65	268
T2	-19	Aaron Townsend	69	69	67	64	269
T2	-19	Andrew Bonhomme	68	67	71	63	269
T4	-18	Mathew Holten	70	65	70	65	270
T4	-18	Paul Marantz	66	66	67	71	270
6	-17	Brad Mcintosh	69	66	68	68	271
T7	-16	Aaron Black	69	64	69	70	272
T7	-16	Lee Hunt	65	70	67	70	272
T7	-16	Rowan Beste	69	67	68	68	272
T10	-15	Jens B Nilsson	69	62	72	70	273
T10	-15	Ben Burge	69	69	66	69	273
T10	-15	Peter Wilson	69	70	67	67	273
T10	-15	Steve Collins	67	70	69	67	273
T14	-14	Aaron Pike	67	65	73	69	274
T14	-14	Brad Shilton	68	69	69	68	274
T14	-14	Kurt Barnes	72	66	69	67	274
T17	-13	Andrew Martin	72	67	68	68	275
T17	-13	Ewan Porter	69	68	70	68	275
T17	-13	Luke Hickmott	68	69	67	71	275
T17	-13	Neven Basic	70	65	71	69	275
T17	-13	Richard Ball	70	67	70	68	275
T17	-13	Simon Furneaux	71	66	69	69	275
T23	-12	Henry Perks	68	66	74	68	276
T23	-12	Jonathan Abbott	69	67	67	73	276
T23	-12	Mitchell Harry	71	67	68	70	276
T23	-12	Tim Wise	67	71	70	68	276
27	-11	Josh Carmichael	66	73	68	70	277
T28	-10	Craig Jones	69	69	71	69	278
T28	-10	Eddie Barr	71	67	69	71	278
T28	-10	Eric Egloff	68	65	72	73	278
T28	-10	Steven Jeffress	66	69	68	75	278
T32	-9	Peter Shaw	69	70	70	70	279
T32	-9	Martin Doyle	69	68	73	69	279
T32	-9	Michael Brennan	69	70	69	71	279
T32	-9	Mitchell Tasker	67	67	75	70	279
T32	-9	Nick Dastey	71	66	74	68	279
T32	-9	Ricky Schmidt	72	65	72	70	279
T32	-9	Russell Smith	69	69	71	70	279
T39	-8	Josh Lane	70	67	70	73	280
T39	-8	Kevin Lee	70	69	67	74	280
T39	-8	Marcus Cain	72	67	71	70	280
T39	-8	Rodney Booth	68	70	73	69	280
T43	-7	Anthony Summers	68	69	72	72	281
T43	-7	Johnathon Zirkler	70	66	74	71	281
T43	-7	Martin Pettigrew	72	67	73	69	281
T46	-6	Graydon Woolridge	73	66	69	74	282
T46	-6	James Beston	68	71	68	75	282
T48	-5	David Walker	70	69	73	71	283
T48	-5	Ryan Smith	72	66	71	74	283
T50	-4	Adam Crawford	70	69	72	73	284
T50	-4	Ed Stedman	72	64	74	74	284
T50	-4	Ray Beaufils	68	69	76	71	284
T53	-3	Glenn Joyner	67	71	70	77	285
T53	-3	Kane Streat	69	70	73	73	285
T53	-3	Lucas Parsons	70	69	72	74	285
56	-1	Robin Hodgetts	70	69	77	71	287
57	+2	Justin G Smith	72	67	73	78	290
Cut -5
CUT	-4	Andrew W Johnson	73	67	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Ben Bloomfield	70	70	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Bradley Iles	70	70	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Chris Gray	71	69	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Clarke Osborne	68	72	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Craig Cork	71	69	-	-	140
CUT	-4	David Diaz	71	69	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Julian Reynolds	71	69	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Kenny Druce	70	70	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Kevin Kenny	72	68	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Mark Brown	72	68	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Nicholas Teague	68	72	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Steven Hassett	70	70	-	-	140
CUT	-4	Wade Brunjes	69	71	-	-	140
CUT	-3	Anthony Brown	71	70	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Anthony Still	71	70	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Clint Sailes	69	72	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Danny Vera	70	71	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Glen Lilley	73	68	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Heath Reed	71	70	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Jonathan O'sullivan	67	74	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Luke Mcnaughton	73	68	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Steven Jones	72	69	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Tetsuya Watari	72	69	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Tony Christie	74	67	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Travis Merritt	71	70	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Tristan Lambert	69	72	-	-	141
CUT	-3	Vernon Sexton-finck	70	71	-	-	141
CUT	-2	David Ecob	67	75	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Andrew Duffin	71	71	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Brad Andrews	70	72	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Darren Beck	74	68	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Dean Kinney	68	74	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Matthew Milne	72	70	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Michael Harwood	73	69	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Neil Sarkies	72	70	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Paul Donahoo	71	71	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Shane Tait	73	69	-	-	142
CUT	-2	Timothy Cameron	70	72	-	-	142
CUT	-1	Aaron Snape	71	72	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Chris Hynes	72	71	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Craig Spence	75	68	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Daniel Morrison	72	71	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Jason Norris	74	69	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Matt Mcbain	74	69	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Matthew Ballard	77	66	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Michael Mcgrath	73	70	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Sam Brazel	70	73	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Tom Davis	73	70	-	-	143
CUT	-1	Wayne Berry	69	74	-	-	143
CUT	Ev	Mark Bylsma	69	75	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Ben Wharton	71	73	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Alistair Presnell	70	74	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Glenn Kelly	73	71	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Greg Chalmers	74	70	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Hamish Robertson	69	75	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Michael Curtain	70	74	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Mitchell Brown	76	68	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Nigel Stivala	73	71	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Ryan Hammond	69	75	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Steven Horstmann	70	74	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Timothy Wood	75	69	-	-	144
CUT	Ev	Wayne Perske	74	70	-	-	144
CUT	+1	Tigh van Leeuwen	69	76	-	-	145
CUT	+1	Richard Stokes	76	69	-	-	145
CUT	+2	Chris Downes	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Geoff Lound	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Kurt Carlson	77	69	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Lucas Bates	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Michael Light	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+3	Franz Schwanner	76	71	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Martin Dive	69	78	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Michael Etherington	70	77	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Shane Baxter	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Stuart Bouvier	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+4	Timothy Deans	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Mark Bryant	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Nathan Goodchild	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Steven Myers	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+5	Alexander Simpson	74	75	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Nathan Kent	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Todd Nicholson	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Glen Dick	77	74	-	-	151
CUT	+8	Scott Bennett	78	74	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Ben Doney	79	75	-	-	154
CUT	+11	Raffael Toperoso	83	72	-	-	155
WD	-	Adam Porker	75	-	-	-	WD