Mark Power and Conor Purcell were in amongst the birdies as they made fast starts at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Sydney.
Power carded an excellent opening round of 67 to lie in a share of ninth place on five-under with Purcell a shot further back. Australia’s Cameron Davis leads on nine-under after a flawless 63.
Both Power and Purcell played their first rounds on The Australian Golf Club and the former started quickly, taking advantage of the three par fives on the back nine before dropping his only shot of the day on the par-3 18th.
The 23-year-old responded with back-to-back birdies before adding a further birdie on the par-3 7th.
The Kilkenny star missed the cut last week and was pleased to see his hard work over the weekend pay off.
“I’m happy with that today, I worked really hard last weekend after narrowly missing the cut so to see some immediate output was nice I’m gaining confidence all the time and all aspects of my game feels good so hopefully more of the same for the rest of the week,” explained Power who will not be playing in next week’s LIV Promotions event despite being exempt into the first round having played Walker Cup in September.
Purcell meanwhile recovered from a shaky opening bogey with birdies on the fourth and ninth before he charged up the leaderboard with four successive birdies.
“Good, solid start to the week, first three holes were a bit all over the shop! First tee shot went in a water hazard and made a good bogey from there then scrapped it around the first three holes,” said the Portmarnock man who achieved his highest ever DP World Tour finish of T7 in this event last year.
“Gave myself plenty of chances after that and focused on fairways and greens then rolled a few putts in which was nice and around the turn making four in a row was nice to keep building momentum.”
Purcell made nineteen birdies and as many bogeys in last week’s Australian PGA Championship and there was a bit of everything mixed into his final four holes as he birdied the par-5 17th but dropped two shots on the par threes 15 and 18.
“A little annoying to drop a shot on the last but overall a solid day.”
Davis, who won his national open with his first professional title in 2017, mixed seven birdies with an eagle at The Lakes Golf Club on Thursday to sit one stroke ahead of American Patrick Rodgers.
Australia’s national open is being held in Sydney at both The Lakes and The Australian golf clubs with 252 players taking part across the men’s, women’s and All Abilities championships.
In the women’s event, 16-year-old amateur Rachel Lee shot a six-under 67 at The Lakes as she finished her opening round in torrential rain to hold a share of the clubhouse lead alongside Jenny Shin after the American carded a 66 at The Australian.
World Number 43 Davis, a winner on the PGA TOUR, comes into the second leg of the Australian golf majors double after finishing in a tie for seventh at last week’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.
After teeing off from the tenth among the morning starters, Davis played his opening eight holes in six under par, including an eagle at the par five 14th, before he made three birdies on his back nine to set the early pace.
With preferred lies in operation following heavy rain on Wednesday, his bogey-free 63 does not equal the course record held by countryman John Senden but he was understandably delighted with his fine start.
“It was a good round of golf,” said Davis, 28.
“It was awesome to get off to a good start and keep it going throughout the whole round. There are not many better ways to start off your national open, so I am very happy.
“It was awesome to see how many people turned up, so it was a lot of fun.”
Davis’ nearest challenger at eight under is Rodgers, with fellow Australian Hayden Hopewell and Scotland’s Connor Syme one shot further back.
Tom McKibbin carded a one-over 73.
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