Just hours after good mates Kade McBride and Jake McLeod both broke the course record (with a pair of 63s), and set off for McDonald’s for a McFlurry, another young gun stepped up and stole it away.
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Sydneysider Nathan Barbieri turns 26 next week and there’d be no better gift than picking up his maiden professional win in an event here at the PLAY TODAY NSW Open, at Rich River in the heart of NSW’s Murray River region.
Don’t look now, but …
— Mark Hayes (@Hayesy24) March 17, 2023
WOW! @barbieri_nathan knocks approach in tight on 6th, cashes in and gets to -9 for his round!! He’s now -12 overall and just one from @NSWOpen lead. Extraordinary golf! pic.twitter.com/uMzs6a4ZCv
Starting on the 10th ‘Barbs’ as he is known, smoothly took apart his front nine, making the turn five-under to rocket up the leaderboard. The fireworks continued on his outward nine, birdies on the first, second and third holes (all difficult actually) to be eight-under for the round and with the birdieable 16th, 17th and par 5 18th all still to come.
12.30 pm: Course records tumble at Rich River
Queenslander Kade McBride shot a new course record 63 at Rich River’s East course today to jump into the lead in the PLAY TODAY NSW Open.
The 28-year-old from the Gold Coast rolled in nine birdies including at the final two holes to overhaul the previous landmark of 64 set by Dylan Perry on Thursday.
Through 36 holes he is the outright leader at 13-under par after an opening 66.
Ironically his housemate this week, Jake McLeod, carded an 8-under 63 a few minutes later to equal the course record.
“We had steaks last night which was actually pretty good. I think we’re all under each other’s skins and all fired up,” McBride said.
“Jake was pretty fired up this morning to shoot a good one. He was pretty frustrated yesterday.”
McBride has had a tough year with injuries and struggled for good results, but he has found a key to his best again. The turn-around has come from the grind, he says.
“A lot of hard work and a bit of perseverance through a few things. It’s been good. It’s nice to come out and play solid. It’s been pretty stress-free, which is nice.
“I felt I got what I deserved of the round yesterday and did it a little unconventionally. Today was super-solid. Just put myself in good places all day; if I got slightly out of place I put myself back in place and snagged a long putt here and there.’’
Already on fire by the time he reached the 17th tee, the short par-4 where the players have been bombing their tee shots over the water hazard and on to the green, McBride’s ball trickled back into the hazard but stopped just a metre or two short of the water. From there, he made birdie. “It flew the hazard by six or seven metres and it rolled back, and got fortunate it stayed out of the water, hit a really good chip out and holed a good putt as well.”
Another birdie with an up-and-down from the greenside bunker at the 18th finished off a nice day’s work.
“Ball-striking has been the issue this year,” he said. “Making full swings has been tough, but the body’s starting to feel nice again and it’s all coming naturally like I was hoping it would.”
10.40 am: TWO-WAY TIE AT THE TOP
Queensland’s Kade McBride has moved into a share of the lead halfway through the morning rounds here at the Play Today NSW Open at Rich River Golf Club.
McBride started his second round where he left yesterday, birdieing the 1st hole, as well as the 6th, 7th and 9th. A lone bogey on the 4th has him at -8 and sharing the lead with Victorian Tom Power Horan who bogeyed the third hole but recovered with a string of birdies on holes four, five and six.
Overnight leader Dylan Perry is even with the card through in his second round, punctuated by bogeys on the long par four 2nd (410m back into the wind), and another on the par three 3rd. Birdies on his opening hole and the sixth have the the Novocastrian one shot back at -7.
Fellow Queenslander Jake McLeod, a previous winner of the Kel Nagle Cup (2018) has come out firing with five birdies in his outward nine (starting on the 10th) to be at -5 overall.
Murwullimbah’s Lucas Higgins started with a bogey in his first hole (the 10th), but reeled off five birdies to be at -4 this morning and -3 overall in the championship.
Higgins won the Musswellbrook Regional Open in late 2022 to earn his place in this year’s NSW Open.
More to come …
9.50 am: McLeod on the March
2018 NSW Open Champion Jake McLeod has got off to a flyer, currently three under for the day and into a tie for 23rd.
The guru Mark Hayes has just tweeted..
For those who know #RichRiver East, @jakemcleodgolf just played an all-world approach to 15th from not far away from 16th green! Through a forest to here. Unfortunately putt doesn’t go, but he’s still -3 through 6 today and back inside projected @NSWOpen cut line of -2. pic.twitter.com/QI1T9eddkK
— Mark Hayes (@Hayesy24) March 16, 2023
7.45 am: WHO’S GONNA BUST DOWN DOWN THE DOOR?
Rich River’s East Course will be there for the taking today, with light winds and perfect conditions forecast for round two of the Play Today NSW Open at Rich River Golf Club in Moama, NSW.
There’s 26 players at even par after round one, so we can expect fireworks as players chase down the opportunity to play into the weekend and avoid the cut.
Day one leader Ryan Chisnall, coming off an eight-birdie round yesterday, heads into round two with a one-shot lead but is being chased by some of the most experienced players in Australasia.
Peter Wilson, Matthew Goggin and previous winner Ben Eccles (2015) are within striking distance as well as eight more players within two shots of the lead.
If you haven’t walked the fairways at a professional golf event before, come down to Rich River GC and acquaint yourself with one of the best golf layouts in Australia: 36 holes, groomed fairways and greens and a layout tipped to get firmer and faster over the weekend.
There’s a Party Hole (16), right next to the driveable par 4 17th, both spectacular holes for spectators and close to the clubhouse which offers excellent restaurants, cafes, sports bar, and other amenities.
Stay tuned for our updates today, and also check us out on Facebook.
