Deadly Dodt storms into the lead on the Gold Coast
Tournament: Australian PGA Championship Venue: RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia Prize fund: A$1.5 million Hashtag: #AusPGA
Round One Report Andrew Dodt fired a sparkling opening round of 65 to establish a two-shot lead before the threat of lightning saw play suspended on day one of the Australian PGA Championship. In the calmer morning conditions, Dodt recorded eight birdies and a solitary bogey to sit one stroke ahead of New Zealander Ryan Fox and Americans Julian Suri and Harold Varner III, with the latter still left with four holes to complete when the horn sounded at 3.15pm. Beautiful conditions had greeted the players as the 2017 Race to Dubai got underway on Thursday morning, with 2016 Challenge Tour Rankings winner Jordan Smith hitting the opening tee-shot. But the expected high winds arrived in the afternoon and brought with them some biblical storms, with half the field yet to complete their first rounds. That was no problem for Dodt, however, who was in the clubhouse on seven under par having come home in an excellent 31 after starting on the back nine. The two-time European Tour winner made just seven of 20 cuts last season, but has been working on his game in recent months and is glad to see that work starting to bear fruit. Fox’s flawless round of 67 was a continuation of the fine form he showed on the Challenge Tour last season, as the Kiwi – whose father Grant won the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks – finished fourth in the Road to Oman Rankings.  US PGA Tour Member Varner III is also yet to drop a shot after 14 holes, whilst his compatriot Suri fought back bravely – he was one over par after four holes – to get his European Tour career off to a flying start.   Home favourite Adam Scott showed his intent with a four under par opening round of 68, which featured a long eagle putt on the 12th hole, while Ian Poulter is on level par after 15 holes. Aberdeen-born Michael Sim, based in Australia since his family emigrated from the Westhill suburb of the Granite City when he was seven years old, had a three-under-par 69 Key quotes Andrew Dodt: “I wanted to hit the ground running for the 2017 season, right from hole one, shot one, and luckily I managed to do that today. Tom, my caddie, and I said at the start of the week that probably maybe ten under would win it, so it’s nice to be seven under after round one. “It’s pretty windy out there at the moment and I knew I had to take advantage of the morning with the way the weather was, but having said that it was still quite windy early on. I know it’s going to be tough tomorrow afternoon, so you have to take advantage of the morning conditions. Thankfully I did, but it’s going to be tough tomorrow afternoon and maybe ten under is still the mark. It just depends how windy it gets.  “Probably this year and last year I’ve been trying to swing it perfectly, because I thought if you swing it perfectly you’re going to play well. I’d rather swing average and play better. I’ve finally figured that out a bit, but it’s always a work in progress.” Ryan Fox: “I think every afternoon is probably going to be a little breezy, like it’s been earlier in the week, which makes it really tough to score so you have to post a number in the morning if you can.  As soon as the golf course dries out it gets really tough to hit the greens and there is a real penalty for missing some of them, so it’s nice to be in this position to start off with but it’s going to be a little bit of a grind for the rest of the week, I think.” Adam Scott: “There was lots of good solid stuff in there today, and a quick start and a quick finish adds up to a good score. I was just treading water for a while but on those holes in the middle of the round, I never had the perfect number. I was cautious of going over the green because I was often in between clubs, but you just have to be patient and luckily for it paid off with birdies on the last three holes.” Partial Round One Scores PAR 72 1 65 -7 Andrew Dodt AUS 65 18 2= 67 -5 Ryan Fox NZL 67 18 2= 67 -5 Julian Suri USA 67 18 2=   -5 Harold Varner III USA (-5) 14 5= 68 -4 Adam Scott AUS 68 18 5= 68 -4 Nick Cullen AUS 68 18 5= 68 -4 Natipong Srithong THA 68 18 5= 68 -4 Paul Waring ENG 68 18 5= 68 -4 Todd Sinnott AUS 68 18 5= 68 -4 Geoff Drakeford AUS 68 18 11= 69 -3 Michael Sim AUS 69 18 11= 69 -3 Peter O'Malley AUS 69 18 11= 69 -3 Danny Lee NZL 69 18 11= 69 -3 Daniel Nisbet AUS 69 18 11= 69 -3 Niclas Johansson SWE 69 18 11= 69 -3 Rohan Blizard AUS 69 18 11=   -3 Jarrod Lyle AUS (-3) 13 11=   -3 Matthew Griffin AUS (-3) 13 11=   -3 Ashley Hall AUS (-3) 11 11=   -3 Adam Stephens AUS (-3) 10 21= 70 -2 Daniel Popovic AUS 70 18 21= 70 -2 Greg Chalmers AUS 70 18 21= 70 -2 Marc Leishman AUS 70 18 21= 70 -2 John Senden AUS 70 18 21= 70 -2 Robert Allenby AUS 70 18 21=   -2 Brett Rumford AUS (-2) 14 21=   -2 Lincoln Tighe AUS (-2) 12 21=   -2 Oliver Farr WAL (-2) 11 29= 71 -1 Cameron Smith AUS 71 18 29= 71 -1 Hyowon Park SKOR 71 18 29= 71 -1 Rhein Gibson AUS 71 18 29=   -1 Simon Dyson ENG (-1) 15 29=   -1 Jordan Zunic AUS (-1) 13 29=   -1 Stephen Leaney AUS (-1) 11 29=   -1 Ryan McCarthy AUS (-1) 10 29=   -1 Jason Norris AUS (-1) 10 37= 72 Par Stephen Gallacher SCO 72 18 37= 72 Par Adam Blyth AUS 72 18 37= 72 Par Bradley Neil SCO 72 18 37= 72 Par Thitiphun Chuayprakong THA 72 18 37= 72 Par Jake McLeod AUS 72 18 37= 72 Par Harry Bateman NZL 72 18 37=   Par Brad Kennedy AUS (Par) 17 37=   Par Mathew Goggin AUS (Par) 15 37=   Par Ian Poulter ENG (Par) 15 37=   Par Wade Ormsby AUS (Par) 13 37=   Par Brett Coletta (am) AUS (Par) 12 37=   Par Scott Laycock AUS (Par) 11 37=   Par Ben Eccles AUS (Par) 11 37=   Par Ross Kellett SCO (Par) 11 37=   Par Martin Pettigrew NZL (Par) 10 37=   Par Ryan Haller AUS (Par) 9 37=   Par Scott Strange AUS (Par) 9 37=   Par Jamie Hook AUS (Par) 8 37=   Par Paul Hayden AUS (Par) 7 56= 73 1 Peter Lonard AUS 73 18 56= 73 1 Craig Parry AUS 73 18 56= 73 1 Tom Lewis ENG 73 18 56= 73 1 Anthony Brown AUS 73 18 56= 73 1 Jason Scrivener AUS 73 18 56= 73 1 Marcus Both AUS 73 18 56= 73 1 Ryan Evans ENG 73 18 56= 73 1 Byungjun Kim SKOR 73 18 56= 73 1 Borja Etchart ESP 73 18 56=   1 Duncan Stewart SCO (+1) 15 56=   1 Rod Pampling AUS (+1) 14 56=   1 Brett Drewitt AUS (+1) 14 56=   1 Prom Meesawat THA (+1) 12 56=   1 Michael Hendry NZL (+1) 12 56=   1 Matt Ford ENG (+1) 11 56=   1 Aaron Rai ENG (+1) 11 56=   1 Michael Jonzon SWE (+1) 11 56=   1 Josh Younger AUS (+1) 11 56=   1 Kalem Richardson AUS (+1) 10 56=   1 Matthew Docking AUS (+1) 9 56=   1 Tom Power Horan AUS (+1) 8 56=   1 Chris Duke AUS (+1) 8 56=   1 Chris Gaunt AUS (+1) 8 56=   1 Matthew Giles AUS (+1) 7 80= 74 2 Richard Green AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Richard Finch ENG 74 18 80= 74 2 Jaco Van Zyl ZAF 74 18 80= 74 2 Daniel Fox AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Gary King ENG 74 18 80= 74 2 Terry Pilkadaris AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Cameron Davis AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Romain Langasque FRA 74 18 80= 74 2 Danthai Boonma THA 74 18 80= 74 2 Nino Bertasio ITA 74 18 80= 74 2 Jarryd Felton AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Charlie Ford ENG 74 18 80= 74 2 Sam Cyr USA 74 18 80= 74 2 David McKenzie AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Panuphol Pittayarat THA 74 18 80= 74 2 Michael Wright AUS 74 18 80= 74 2 Taylor Macdonald AUS 74 18 80=   2 Stuart Manley WAL (+2) 17 80=   2 Y.E. Yang SKOR (+2) 15 80=   2 Matthew Millar AUS (+2) 15 80=   2 Darius van Driel NED (+2) 15 80=   2 Scott Hend AUS (+2) 14 80=   2 Aaron Pike AUS (+2) 14 80=   2 Ben Evans ENG (+2) 12 80=   2 Nathan Buzimkic AUS (+2) 10 80=   2 Anthony Summers AUS (+2) 10 80=   2 Mark Brown NZL (+2) 9 80=   2 Rory Bourke AUS (+2) 8 80=   2 Edward Stedman AUS (+2) 8 109= 75 3 Scott Arnold AUS 75 18 109= 75 3 Steve Webster ENG 75 18 109= 75 3 Kristopher Mueck AUS 75 18 109= 75 3 Weiyu Zhu CHN 75 18 109= 75 3 Junsung Kim KOR 75 18 109= 75 3 David Klein DEU 75 18 109= 75 3 Pavit Tangkamolprasert THA 75 18 109= 75 3 Mitchell A. Brown AUS 75 18 109= 75 3 Sangyeop Lee KOR 75 18 109=   3 Kurt Barnes AUS (+3) 17 109=   3 Max McCardle AUS (+3) 16 109=   3 Nathan Holman AUS (+3) 14 109=   3 Marcus Fraser AUS (+3) 14 109=   3 Edoardo Molinari ITA (+3) 12 109=   3 Stephen Dartnall AUS (+3) 11 109=   3 James Nitties AUS (+3) 10 109=   3 Borja Virto Astudillo ESP (+3) 9 109=   3 Deyen Lawson AUS (+3) 8 109=   3 James Gibellini AUS (+3) 8 128= 76 4 Peter Uihlein USA 76 18 128= 76 4 Curtis Luck (am) AUS 76 18 128= 76 4 Michael Long NZL 76 18 128= 76 4 Darren Beck AUS 76 18 128=   4 Josh Geary NZL (+4) 11 128=   4 Ryan Lynch AUS (+4) 10 128=   4 Jin Jeong SKOR (+4) 10 128=   4 Mikael Lundberg SWE (+4) 10 128=   4 David Gleeson AUS (+4) 8 128=   4 Maverick Antcliff AUS (+4) 8 128=   4 Brett Rankin AUS (+4) 8 139= 77 5 Aron Price AUS 77 18 139= 77 5 Dimitrios Papadatos AUS 77 18 139=   5 Jamie Sadlowski CAN (+5) 16 139=   5 Robert Dinwiddie ENG (+5) 14 139=   5 Samuel Brazel AUS (+5) 11 139=   5 Christopher Akers AUS (+5) 9 139=   5 Callan O'Reilly AUS (+5) 8 146= 78 6 Jordan Smith ENG 78 18 146= 78 6 Brad Moules AUS 78 18 146= 78 6 Neven Basic AUS 78 18 146= 78 6 Nelson Turner AUS 78 18 146=   6 Simon Khan ENG (+6) 13 151= 79 7 Anthony Houston AUS 79 18 151= 79 7 Ben Campbell NZL 79 18 151=   7 Jack Wilson AUS (+7) 7 154 80 8 Cory Crawford AUS 80 18 155 88 16 Ryan Laird AUS 88 18 156 DSQ - Jose-Filipe Lima POR DSQ 18
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS