Murray Downs Bites Back Late

It was always going to be hard to match the birdie festival that Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert dished up to start the Ford New South Wales Open.

Some had predicted a score of somewhere in the low to mid twenties under par would be required to hoist the Kel Nagle Cup come Sunday.

And when former world No.2 Smith and his LIV Golf teammate shot seven and six under par, respectively, in the opening hours, that prediction appeared to have merit.

But as the afternoon wave of players returned to the Murray Downs clubhouse, they brought with them tales of strengthening and swirling breezes; and bounces on approach becoming less predictable as greens baked in the sun.

In fact, of the top 11 players on the leaderboard, only Kiwi Kerry Mountcastle and Coffs Harbour’s Andrew Campbell came from the afternoon tee times.

And even then, Campbell’s spectacular opening nine – he ripped around the back side in 30 blows – slowed appreciably with an inward 36 to leave him at five under, two behind Smith.

There were several notable players in the afternoon field who scurried off to the practice range to sort through their collective woes.

Geoff Ogilvy said there was “more bad than good” in his opening two-over-par 73, but he did manage a hot streak of four under par in three holes from the 14^th.

Under-rated Inverell product Brett Drewitt – playing in Australia for the first time in eight years after scaling the heights of the Korn Ferry Tour and reaching the US PGA Tour almost unnoticed at home – closed at three under to keep himself prominent.

Drewitt, still hopeful of invites to the upcoming Australian PGA and Australian Open that his resume would suggest should already have come, showed flashes of brilliance.

“I made a couple of silly mistakes, but under par in my first tournament in 6-7 weeks feels pretty good,” he said.

“I made some good up-and-downs out there and the course is firming up nicely – it shook me a couple of times with the bounces, but it’s really good.”

Last week’s Queensland PGA winner Phoenix Campbell also appeared ready to rise until closing with a couple of bogeys to card a 70.

It will be fascinating to see if any of these players out early in the second round can put up a target for the afternoon groups – including Smith’s – to chase down.