New Zealand left-hander Tim Wilkinson shot a 6-under-par 66 yesterday to take a one-stroke lead in the storm-suspended first round of the Australian PGA championship.
Playing before afternoon thunderstorms forced a suspension of play on the Hyatt Regency resort course, the 30-year-old US PGA Tour player birdied his first two holes and final three on the front nine.
Former US Open champion Geo. Ogilvy and Richard Lee of New Zealand, also with morning starts, were tied for second with 67s.
Officials stopped play mid-afternoon after lightning was sighted near the course. Nearly two hours later, and with further storms forecast, they called off play for the day with 78 players — half the field — to complete their first rounds today beginning at 5:30am local time.
Australian Peter Wilson was at 6-under with four holes remaining when play was stopped. Peter Senior, at 5-under with eight holes to play, was another player who could move up the leaderboard.
Wilson had moved to 8-under before a double-bogey on the water-lined 13th hole.
Wilkinson said he was lucky to have a 7:05am tee time.
“I wanted to get off to a good start because the morning conditions were a little bit calm,” Wilkinson said. “If I could do that for three more days I’d be very happy.”
American John Daly, making his first appearance back at Coolum since being disqualified and throwing his putter and ball in the pond in 2002, shot a 71 and was five strokes back.
“I got off to a bad start, but I came back,” Daly said. “I putted terribly but I’m happy with the way it went.”
Asked if he was pleased to have played well in his first appearance back, Daly replied: “Oh, yeah.”
Daly easily attracted the biggest gallery of the day — about 1,000 by the time he finished.
Wilkinson had a strong first year on the PGA Tour, finishing in 92nd place on the money list with earnings of US$1.167 million. He had two top 10 finishes, including a tied for second at the Texas Open when he had all four rounds in the 1960s.
Yesterday, Wilkinson saw the swirling winds pick up late in his round and was thankful his caddie had come prepared.
“Lucky [he] had a compass reading and book on every hole, so you know where it [the wind] is coming from,” Wilkinson said. “It definitely got stronger near the end.”
Ogilvy had a birdie and eagle on his first three holes and made the turn in 32 before managing just one birdie on his final nine.
“Three under after three was a nice way to start,” Ogilvy said. “I played really solid on the front nine and not quite so good on the back.”
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