By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Home contender Lucas Herbert left compatriot Cameron Smith in his wake once again with a sparkling 63 that earned him a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Australian Open on Thursday, with his LIV team captain two shots off the pace.
Australia’s forgotten former prodigy Su Oh and South Korean amateur Yang Hyo-jin emerged as surprise co-leaders for the women’s title at the dual gender event played across Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club on Melbourne’s sandbelt.
Herbert made the most of preferred lies on Victoria’s fairways, which were left soggy by a Wednesday storm, as he rolled in six birdies and signed off with an eagle on the par-five ninth.
Eight-under for the day, the 28-year-old held a one-stroke lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and young American Ryggs Johnston, who shot a 65 at Kingston Heath despite having missed out on a practice round due to the weather.
Herbert mowed down British Open winner Smith in the final round to win the New South Wales Open two weeks ago and deny his Ripper GC skipper a drought-breaking win.
“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert told reporters of Smith.
“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Trophy.”
Smith had slammed the Kingston Heath setup at the pro-am on Wednesday, blaming organisers for turning the usually fast and hard course into an “American-style” target golf setup.
There were few complaints after he shot 65 at Victoria on a glorious, calm morning.
Smith started slowly after teeing off at the 10th but caught fire at the par-three 14th, racking up six consecutive birdies.
“Didn’t do too much wrong today. Bit draggy there at the start, then finally woke up. The coffee worked,” said the former world number two, who was runner-up in his bid for a fourth Australian PGA Championship title last Sunday, two strokes shy of winner Elvis Smylie.
“The course is definitely gettable … The greens are soft and there wasn’t much wind out there this morning so a lot of those par-fives played really quite short.”
NO EXPECTATIONS
Defending champion Joaquin Niemann and other top contenders struggled as the wind picked up in the afternoon.
Niemann shot a one-over 73 at Kingston Heath to be nine behind Herbert, with the Chilean’s playing partner Min Woo Lee shooting 71.
Some 15 years after teeing off at the Australian Open as a 12-year-old, Oh shot an encouraging 66 at Kingston Heath in the women’s event to shrug off a prolonged form slump.
She led on seven-under with Yang, who carded a 65 at Victoria.
Hannah Green was another of those who were unable to get a practice round in but the major winner produced a heroic round of 67 in the afternoon wind at Kingston Heath to be one shot behind the leaders.
The Australian Olympian was among a group of players who made the gruelling trip from Florida where the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship wrapped up on Sunday.
Green arrived at the course on Wednesday but was denied a practice round by the storm.
“It was a really good round, probably because I had no expectation, it was a little bit easier, a little bit fluid,” said the 27-year-old.
The action continues at both courses on Friday, with all players who make the cut converging on Kingston Heath for the final two rounds.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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