Barnes, Percy blitz Vic PGA

BY iseekgolf.com | Von Nida Tour | 2008 Victorian PGA Championship | Round One | 31 Jan 2008

Kurt Barnes

(Photo: Anthony Powter)

Big-hitting New South Welshman Kurt Barnes has joined former champion Cameron Percy on top of the leaderboard at seven-under following today’s first round of the nab Victorian PGA Championship.

Barnes, out late in the day, fired four birdies and an eagle on his back nine to equal Percy’s morning score.

“I shot ten-under in the second round last year, but felt today’s round was equal if not of better ball striking quality.”

“I have always had a liking to the layout, the course is in great condition as always and I hope I can continue this form heading into the final three days,” said Barnes, winner of the 2005 Victorian Open.

Percy, a resident of Dingley and father of a 20-month-old son, finished off his opening round strongly with a string of birdies, none better than a putt holed from off the green on the long eighth hole measuring in excess of 500 metres.

Before leaving the Greg Norman designed course to drive home, he revealed that his recent form had been quite poor, putting it down to spending the summer breaks working out in the gymnasium to prepare for a full schedule of events on the US Nationwide Tour.

“My muscles have been very sore lately and I couldn’t swing properly,” said the 2005 Victorian PGA champion.

“But all that hard physical work has tapered off now, my body is feeling great again and everything is falling into place.”

“The other thing that excites me is my putting. I had a good lesson from my coach (VIS assistant) Darren Cole the other day and the ball is rolling end over end properly.”

Sitting one back after his round of 66 is Queenslander Lee Hunt who looked likely to upstage his more fancied rivals.

With three holes to play, Hunt was eight-under the card, however after a shanked approach to 16, Lee finished with two bogeys and signed for six-under.

Also making a bold statement on a day marked by steady morning rain and afternoon southerly winds were Queenslander Wayne Perske and talented Victorian Marc Leishman who shot identical 67s.

Golf prodigy Rick Kulacz launched his bid for the prestigious state title with 71 and was joined on this score by a host of players including Craig Spence, a previous winner of the Australian Masters.

Former Australian Open champion Peter Senior, chairman of the newly formed PGA of Australia, shot 69. While Peter Fowler, another to win the national title, signed for 71.

Of the other marquee players in a field, the multi-skilled Scott Draper started solidly with a 72.

Round two of the 2008 nab Victorian PGA Championship continues tomorrow from Sanctuary Lakes Resort from 6.45am

Source – PGA Australia

Top 10
AUS/NZ

Position	Score	Player	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	-19	Marc Leishman	67	68	69	65	269
T2	-18	Cameron Percy	65	71	71	63	270
T2	-18	Kurt Barnes	65	71	67	67	270
4	-14	Shane Tait	69	69	69	67	274
5	-12	Wayne Perske	67	72	65	72	276
T6	-11	Adam Bland	68	71	71	67	277
T6	-11	Scott Laycock	73	68	71	65	277
T8	-10	Andrew Martin	69	68	67	74	278
T8	-10	David Bransdon	71	69	68	70	278
T8	-10	Leighton Lyle	69	68	70	71	278
T8	-10	Rodney Booth	73	65	68	72	278
T12	-9	David Diaz	72	68	73	66	279
T12	-9	Mahal Pearce	72	70	70	67	279
T12	-9	Peter Fowler	71	69	69	70	279
T12	-9	Peter Senior	69	68	74	68	279
T12	-9	Rick Kulacz	71	70	70	68	279
T17	-8	Stephen Dartnall	72	69	71	68	280
T17	-8	Darren Beck	73	72	67	68	280
T17	-8	Marcus Cain	71	71	66	72	280
T20	-7	Adam Wilcox	72	71	68	70	281
T20	-7	Craig Spence	71	70	72	68	281
T20	-7	Lucas Parsons	73	68	70	70	281
T20	-7	Stuart Bouvier	72	71	72	66	281
T24	-6	Kane Streat	72	72	69	69	282
T24	-6	Mark Purser	73	69	74	66	282
T24	-6	Paul Sheehan	69	69	71	73	282
T24	-6	Scott Draper	72	67	73	70	282
T28	-5	Adam Groom	70	69	70	74	283
T28	-5	Andrew Pitt	71	72	71	69	283
T28	-5	Anthony Summers	68	74	73	68	283
T28	-5	Michael Harwood	71	70	71	71	283
T28	-5	Nigel Stivala	72	70	72	69	283
T28	-5	Ryan Haller	72	68	73	70	283
T34	-4	Heath D'altera	74	68	72	70	284
T34	-4	Mathew Holten	74	71	70	69	284
T34	-4	Mitchell Brown	73	69	71	71	284
T34	-4	Ryan Hammond	73	70	72	69	284
T34	-4	Simon Furneaux	75	68	73	68	284
T39	-3	Grant Moorhead	72	72	68	73	285
T39	-3	Martin Doyle	70	75	72	68	285
T39	-3	Shane Baxter	75	70	70	70	285
42	-2	Terry Price	69	70	67	80	286
T43	-1	Luke Hickmott	71	72	71	73	287
T43	-1	Mitchell Tasker	71	74	74	68	287
T43	-1	Rudi Bezuidenhout	75	70	69	73	287
T43	-1	Tristan Lambert	69	74	71	73	287
T47	Ev	Adrian Garnett	72	71	71	74	288
T47	Ev	Alistair Presnell	74	71	69	74	288
T47	Ev	Richard Gallichan	71	74	66	77	288
T50	+1	Adam Crawford	71	74	73	71	289
T50	+1	Peter Wilson	70	71	75	73	289
T52	+2	Adam Porker	75	69	72	74	290
T52	+2	Michael Long	73	71	75	71	290
T54	+3	Brad Andrews	71	70	77	73	291
T54	+3	Robin Hodgetts	72	72	72	75	291
T54	+3	Tim Wise	71	74	73	73	291
T57	+4	Damon Welsford	69	74	76	73	292
T57	+4	Ryan Haywood	70	75	76	71	292
T57	+4	Steve Collins	71	74	76	71	292
T60	+9	Ben Hallam	70	75	73	79	297
T60	+9	Lee Hunt	66	78	80	73	297
T60	+9	Todd Nicholson	72	73	76	76	297
T63	+10	Ewan Porter	74	71	75	78	298
T63	+10	Michael Faraone	73	72	82	71	298
Cut +1
CUT	+2	Anthony Brown	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Anthony Painter	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Ashley Hall	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Brad Lamb	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Brent O'donoghue	76	70	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Craig Scott	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Edward Stedman	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Glenn Joyner	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Matthew Ecob	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Michael Wright	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Steven Jeffress	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+3	Andrew Tampion	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Ben Bunny	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Euan Walters	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Geoff Lound	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Matthew Ballard	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Michael Curtain	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+4	Aaron Black	77	71	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Ben Burge	77	71	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Chris Gaunt	76	72	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Daniel Beckmann	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	David Walker	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Heath Reed	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Josh Lane	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Michael Clayton	73	75	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Rowan Beste	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+5	Ben Wharton	71	78	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Toran Rex	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Brendan Stuart	77	72	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Christopher Hynes	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Jarrod Moseley	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Julian Reynolds	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Neil Sarkies	74	75	-	-	149
CUT	+6	Matt Griffin	76	74	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Ben Bloomfield	74	76	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Clint Sailes	74	76	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Darren Weatherall	71	79	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Glen Dick	76	74	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Jason Ashcroft	75	75	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Josh Younger	74	76	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Joshua Carmichael	74	76	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Leigh Mckechnie	76	74	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Stuart Deane	76	74	-	-	150
CUT	+7	Carl Smedley	75	76	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Chris Downes	76	75	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Dean Kinney	77	74	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Hamish Robertson	75	76	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Mark Allen	77	74	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Michael Lambert	80	71	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Patrick Giles	75	76	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Paul Spargo	75	76	-	-	151
CUT	+8	Jarrad Roxby	72	80	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Ricky Schmidt	75	77	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Scott Adland	73	79	-	-	152
CUT	+9	Craig Jones	74	79	-	-	153
CUT	+9	Neven Basic	77	76	-	-	153
CUT	+9	Peter Cooke	75	78	-	-	153
CUT	+10	Gene Saunders	78	76	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Aaron Townsend	75	79	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Steven Binns	80	74	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Timothy Wood	79	75	-	-	154
CUT	+11	Toby Wilcox	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Andrew Gott	77	78	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Christopher Campbell	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Jason Pavese	82	73	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Michael Mcgrath	79	76	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Paul Gow	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Richard Moir	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Timothy Cameron	76	79	-	-	155
CUT	+12	Matthew Docking	76	80	-	-	156
CUT	+12	Brad Shilton	76	80	-	-	156
CUT	+13	Wayne Berry	75	82	-	-	157
CUT	+15	Paul Dwyer	80	79	-	-	159
CUT	+15	Steven Jones	83	76	-	-	159
CUT	+17	Dean Jones	79	82	-	-	161
CUT	+17	Aaron Pike	83	78	-	-	161
CUT	+34	Christian Hamilton	87	91	-	-	178
DQ	-	Wade Hooper	-	-	-	-	DQ
DQ	-	Wade Ormsby	-	-	-	-	DQ
DQ	-	Andrew Duffin	77	-	-	-	DQ