Downes closes in on Masters lead

BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2008 Australian Masters | Round One | 28 Nov 2008

Chris Downes

(Photo: Anthony Powter)

Queenslander Chris Downes was one of the 39 players left on the golf course when play was called off due to darkness on day one of the Sportsbet Masters at Huntingdale Golf Club in Melbourne, but he was back in action at 7.00am this morning.

Downes finished with a round of 68 and at the completion of round one he finds himself alone in second position just one behind the lead of Scott Hend and Tim Clark.

Downes was at three under when play was called off last night and in ideal conditions this morning he recommenced his round at the par four 14th.

“I parred the 14th, hit it close on the 15th and made birdie, then three putted the 16th from 15 feet and then made a good putt at the 17th for birdie. I was able to get up and down from the bunker at the last,” said Downes as he took a brief break between rounds. He had only twenty minutes or so before he was back out in round two.

“I played okay, I drove the ball well and didn’t do much wrong. I guess you could say it was just a decent round of golf,” he added.

Downes has for some time been considered one of Australia’s bright prospects finishing runner up behind Peter Lonard at the Australian Open in 2005 and going close to winning the New Zealand Open on two occasions. His form in recent times has slipped and he has played only domestically in 2008 but a recent decision to work with Gold Coast-based coach Ian Triggs appears to be paying off.

“I worked pretty hard with Ian last week as I had a week off and it now feels like I am starting to play alright so here’s hoping it continues.”

Top 10
AUS/NZ

Position	Score	Player	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	-12	Rodney Pampling	71	68	70	67	276
2	-12	Marcus Fraser	73	67	71	65	276
3	-9	Robert Allenby	73	66	67	73	279
T4	-8	Alexander Noren	73	71	68	68	280
T4	-8	Nathan Green	72	68	70	70	280
T4	-8	Tim Clark	67	70	76	67	280
7	-7	David Mckenzie	72	70	71	68	281
T8	-6	Anthony Summers	70	68	71	73	282
T8	-6	Marc Leishman	71	70	74	67	282
T8	-6	Martin Erlandsson	74	71	70	67	282
T11	-5	Ashley Hall	73	67	68	75	283
T11	-5	Danny Lee	71	69	71	72	283
T11	-5	Michael Sim	72	66	68	77	283
T11	-5	Peter Senior	70	72	70	71	283
T11	-5	Steve Webster	71	68	70	74	283
T11	-5	Tim Wilkinson	72	72	68	71	283
T17	-4	Aaron Townsend	75	64	71	74	284
T17	-4	Andre Stolz	73	70	71	70	284
T17	-4	Craig Scott	72	72	67	73	284
T17	-4	David Horsey	71	68	71	74	284
T17	-4	Jamie Donaldson	72	67	73	72	284
T22	-3	Daniel Chopra	70	72	72	71	285
T22	-3	Rob Harris	72	72	73	68	285
T22	-3	Wade Ormsby	72	71	73	69	285
T25	-2	Andrew Tschudin	74	70	71	71	286
T25	-2	Brad Lamb	73	72	68	73	286
T25	-2	Daniel Wardrop	69	71	71	75	286
T25	-2	Mahal Pearce	75	70	74	67	286
T25	-2	Michael Wright	69	70	72	75	286
T25	-2	Scott Hend	67	73	71	75	286
T31	-1	Brett Rumford	71	70	73	73	287
T31	-1	Johan Sköld	72	68	73	74	287
T31	-1	Marcus Higley	72	71	71	73	287
T31	-1	Phillip Archer	73	71	70	73	287
T31	-1	Ryan Haller	76	69	72	70	287
T31	-1	Scott Laycock	73	67	72	75	287
T31	-1	Simon Griffiths	70	74	69	74	287
T31	-1	Tony Carolan	74	68	74	71	287
T39	Ev	Adam Crawford	71	71	71	75	288
T39	Ev	Alexandre Rocha	77	68	70	73	288
T39	Ev	Bradley Hughes	72	71	74	71	288
T39	Ev	Craig Spence	72	72	72	72	288
T39	Ev	Greg Chalmers	72	70	71	75	288
T39	Ev	Michael Curtain	72	71	71	74	288
T39	Ev	Michael Long	72	71	72	73	288
T39	Ev	Peter Lonard	72	71	71	74	288
T39	Ev	Steve Alker	75	68	70	75	288
T48	+1	Antti Ahokas	74	71	71	73	289
T48	+1	Oliver Fisher	72	73	75	69	289
T48	+1	Steven Bowditch	72	70	73	74	289
T51	+2	Cameron Percy	74	71	72	73	290
T51	+2	Ewan Porter	70	71	77	72	290
T51	+2	James Mclean	75	69	72	74	290
T51	+2	Lee Slattery	78	67	72	73	290
T51	+2	Matthew Griffin	74	71	73	72	290
T56	+3	Scott Draper	73	71	73	74	291
T56	+3	Steven Jones	74	70	75	72	291
T56	+3	Wilhelm Schauman	76	69	73	73	291
T59	+4	Anthony Brown	69	76	75	72	292
T59	+4	Martin Rominger	76	68	72	76	292
T61	+5	Dale Marmion	76	69	71	77	293
T61	+5	James Morrison	73	69	74	77	293
T61	+5	Steven Jeppesen	74	70	71	78	293
T64	+6	Aaron Black	70	74	73	77	294
T64	+6	Vernon Sexton-finck	70	74	74	76	294
T66	+7	Joel Sjoholm	74	68	77	76	295
T66	+7	Martin Wiegele	73	71	74	77	295
T66	+7	Scott Strange	75	68	78	74	295
69	+9	Daniel Vancsik	74	70	80	73	297
70	+11	Tim Wise	71	73	78	77	299
Cut +1
CUT	+2	Adam Blyth	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Adam Groom	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Aron Price	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Brad Kennedy	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Carlos Del Moral	76	70	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Chris Downes	68	78	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Heath Reed	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Jarmo Sandelin	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Jin Jeong	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Jochen Lupprian	76	70	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Kurt Barnes	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Nigel Stivala	71	75	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Paul Sheehan	70	76	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Ryan Howison	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Sam Walker	77	69	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Scott Barr	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+2	Steve Collins	78	68	-	-	146
CUT	+3	Andrew Dodt	71	76	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Chris Gaunt	80	67	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Craig Parry	76	71	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Jarrod Moseley	72	75	-	-	147
CUT	+3	John Senden	75	72	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Kim Felton	77	70	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Mark Laskey	75	72	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Martin Doyle	71	76	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Paul Nilbrink	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Peter O'malley	77	70	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Shane Baxter	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+3	Stuart Davis	76	71	-	-	147
CUT	+4	Birgir Hafthorsson	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Jarrod Lyle	76	72	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Lasse Jensen	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Matthew Mills	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+4	Stuart Appleby	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+5	Alistair Presnell	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Bronson La’cassie	77	72	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Gareth Paddison	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Gary Emerson	73	76	-	-	149
CUT	+5	John Daly	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Mikko Ilonen	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Nathan Smith	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Peter Wilson	78	71	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Rory Hie	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+5	Ross B. Jones	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+6	Andrew Tampion	78	72	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Euan Walters	78	72	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Gareth Maybin	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Manuel Villegas	75	75	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Mitchell Brown	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Ryan Carter	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Ryan Haywood	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+6	Sebastian Garcia-grout	79	71	-	-	150
CUT	+7	Gary Simpson	76	75	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Jason Norris	82	69	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Mark Purser	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Matthew Ballard	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Richie Ramsay	82	69	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Simon Khan	75	76	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Soren Juul	80	71	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Steven Jeffress	77	74	-	-	151
CUT	+7	Terry Pilkadaris	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+8	Andrew Martin	77	75	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Doug Holloway	83	69	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Josh Lane	75	77	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Lee S James	78	74	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Michael Brennan	75	77	-	-	152
CUT	+8	Peter Fowler	81	71	-	-	152
CUT	+9	Henrik Engvall	76	77	-	-	153
CUT	+9	Lee Corfield	79	74	-	-	153
CUT	+9	Rick Kulacz	79	74	-	-	153
CUT	+10	David Diaz	78	76	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Matthew Millar	78	76	-	-	154
CUT	+10	Nicky Harris	79	75	-	-	154
CUT	+11	Darren Beck	75	80	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Marcus Cain	79	76	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Mike Harwood	77	78	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Richard Lee	76	79	-	-	155
CUT	+11	Shiv Kapur	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+12	Brett A. Taylor	79	77	-	-	156
CUT	+12	Mathew Holten	74	82	-	-	156
CUT	+14	Josh Geary	81	77	-	-	158
CUT	+15	Paul Donahoo	78	81	-	-	159
CUT	+15	Terry Price	80	79	-	-	159
CUT	+16	David Lutterus	80	80	-	-	160
CUT	+21	Charles Kares	89	76	-	-	165
WD	-	Paul Marantz	85	-	-	-	WD

Position	Score	Player	Country	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	To

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Downes closes in on Masters lead

BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2008 Australian Masters | Round One | 28 Nov 2008