Danny Lee opens well at the Western

BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Western Amateur Championship | Round One | 31 Jul 2008

New Zealand’s Danny Lee has opened well to be in tied third position following the first round of the Western Amateur being played at Point O’Woods Golf Club in Michigan.

The 18-year-old and world number four fired a 2-under-par 68 to be two strokes behind leader Will Kropp, who opened with a 4-under-par 66. Kropp currently holds a one-stroke lead from Jude Eustaquio at 3-under-par, followed by a group of ten players including Lee at 2-under-par.

“I was able to hole a lot of putts today,” said Lee.

“This is a course where you cannot be aggressive with your approach and you really have to think your way around. There’s a lot of course management required out there.”

With a new driver in his bag, Lee is hoping he can keep the ball on the short grass on a layout that requires accurate play.

“The fairways are very narrow, probably the toughest we’ve played yet and if you miss them it’s hard to get the ball to hold on the greens when you are coming out of the rough. I hit one out-of-bounds today and yet still managed to have two-under, so hopefully I can get my new driver going tomorrow.”

Matthew Griffin is the best placed Australian at 1-over-par, which has the 2008 Rice Planters champion in T32 position.

“Conditions are not easy as the greens are very firm and fast,” remarked the world number six.

“This is a long tournament and you just have to play each round as it comes. As long as you can get to the qualifying stage, you be in with a chance.”

The Western Amateur combines a stroke and match-play format with a cut of low 44 and ties after the second round of stroke, then moving to the top-16 for the elimination match play rounds to determine the champion.

Following the opening round the only Australasians, aside from Lee and Griffin, inside the cut mark are Matthew Giles and James Gill who are both at 2-over-par and in T43 position. Scott Arnold and Jason Scrivener are just outside at 3-over-par and in T61 position with one round to play.

Kiwi Nick Gillespie, Rohan Blizard and Matt Jager will need to shoot a sub-par second round to have any chance of making the cut tomorrow.