|
Share this article:
Digg |
StumbleUpon |
del.icio.us |
Reddit
D.J. Brigman is one shot off the lead after the first round in New Zealand. FRINGAL, Victoria, Australia—American Jim Herman took advantage of calmer-than-expected afternoon conditions and established a course record 10-under 62 to take the first-round lead at the Nationwide Tour's Moonah Classic outside Melbourne.
Herman leads Australia's Andre Stolz by four.
Another shot back at 67 are Stolz' countryman Paul Sheehan and Americans Bobby MacWhinnie of Pittsburgh and Jim Carter of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Twelve players are tied for sixth at 68, including last week's third-place finisher, Jamie Lovemark out of the University of Southern California.
Herman, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, teed off in balmy afternoon conditions with a threat of rain at the 7,416-yard Moonah Links course, which is located about 90 minutes south of Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula. Competitors who played in the morning were having lunch, breathing a sigh of relief thinking they had dodged what was expected to be a difficult afternoon. But the rain never materialized and the wind settled down by mid-afternoon.
The effortless round included 10 birdies and no bogeys in erasing Robert Allenby's 63 in the 2005 Australian Open from the record book. Herman hit all but one green in regulation and had just 25 putts, the longest being a 35-footer on No. 4 and a 25-footer on No. 11.
Despite the even morning and afternoon conditions, 11 of the top 17 on the leaderboard played in the morning round.
Herman said today's round was "totally unexpected" after he missed the cut in last week's Michael Hill New Zealand Open. "I wanted to get off to a good start. I think I did that."
"Sometimes things just happen and you want to stay out of your own way," he said.
Only days before Nationwide Tour players headed to New Zealand, the 32-year-old did not have a spot in the field. He secured it at the last minute when one of his fellow Tour members dropped out.
After attending the University of Cincinnati, Herman played various mini-tours, then entered the club professional business. His most prominent position was at Donald Trump's Trump National golf club in northern New Jersey where he played many matches with and against "The Donald" and some of his celebrity friends such as Samuel L. Jackson.
Stolz, a 39-year-old from New South Wales whose career has suffered many ups and downs, was atop the leaderboard with his 66 after the morning round was complete.
A journeyman professional, the 39-year-old has played on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Japan Golf Tour (2001), the Nationwide Tour (2003, '09) and the PGA TOUR (2004, '05) in America, winning at least once on all four tours. In 2003, he won in Japan and the LaSalle Bank Open in Chicago on the Nationwide Tour.
After securing his PGA TOUR card for 2004 through the Nationwide Tour that year, Stolz made only 11 cuts in 19 starts but pocketed more than $800,000, thanks in large part to a victory in Las Vegas in October. An injury to his left wrist sidelined him midway through 2005, eventually forcing him into temporary retirement. He returned to competitive play in 2008, getting back into the winner's circle last February at the Australasian Tour's Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Championship, which he will defend next week.
"My body's a mess now," Stolz said. "I haven't treated it well over the years. I have had to do a lot of practice to stay out playing golf and it's taken its toll a bit. Every morning is a bit of a worry."
This 156-player event is co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, with the field split evenly between the two tours.
First-round notes:
• Michael Hill New Zealand Open winner Robert Gates got off to a fast start, birdieing his first, fifth and sixth holes to get to 3-under early, but like many in the field, he dropped shots coming in to finish with a 1-under-par 71.
• Contrary to what was anticipated, morning and afternoon scores only differed by a little more than half a shot—71.51 and 72.19 (morning vs. afternoon).
• Aussie Peter Lonard, who won the 2003 Australian Open at Moonah Links in 2003, shot a 1-under 71.
• This week's field features 73 Australians, 62 Americans, 11 New Zealanders, five Canadians, two Argentines and one player each from Colombia, England and Korea.
By Jeff Adams, PGA TOUR Staff
|
.jpg)
.jpg)