‘Solid’ first round sees Conor Purcell into top 10 but Cameron Smith off pace at Australian Open
Conor Purcell
Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell is just five shots off the lead after opening with a two-under 68 in the DP World Tour’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Dubliner (25), who secured a full Challenge Tour card when he finished 63rd in the Road to Mallorca rankings this season, is tied for 10th behind Australia’s David Micheluzzi.
Micheluzzi fired his lowest DP World Tour round, a seven under 63 at Victoria Golf Club to lead by three strokes from countryman Matthew Griffin and Kiwi Josh Geary.
Purcell, a former winner of the Australian Amateur and South of Ireland Championships, got off to a good start when he rolled in a 12-footer for birdie at the first.
He picked up another shot of the par-five ninth, then followed bogey the par-three 16th with a birdie four to finish.
“I played very solid all day and hit 16 greens which was good,” Purcell said. “Ball striking very solid all day.
“I was very stress free golf but it was nice to hole a 12 footer on the first to gain some momentum.”
Purcell is playing just this event Down Under and he’s looking forward to 2023 after achieving his goal of securing full playing rights on the Challenge Tour.
“Absolutely, it was great to wrap up full status for next year,” he said of a season that saw him secure three top-10s from 17 starts and make 11 cuts. “That was my main goal so I was happy with the year.”
British Open champion Cameron Smith had celebrated a three-stroke win on Sunday to seal his third Australian PGA Championship in front a thrilled home crowd at Royal Queensland but slumped to a one-over 71 at Victoria to be eight strokes behind Micheluzzi.
"I need to do better than that. Maybe some kind of delayed tiredness," Smith said after a round of four bogeys.
"I did feel a little bit foggy out there at times but still it's not really an excuse. It's my job to do all that (off-course) stuff.”
Australia's national open is breaking new ground this week with 300 players taking part across the men's, women's and All Abilities championships.
In the women's event, Australia's Grace Kim carded a course-record 66 at Kingston Heath Golf Club to sit at seven under, two ahead of compatriot Hannah Green and South Korea's Jiyai Shin.
Micheluzzi is a recent winner on the PGA Tour of Australasia, lifting the trophy at the CKB WA PGA Championship presented by TX Civil & Logistics, and he was delighted to tie the course record on Melbourne's famed Sandbelt.
Griffin had six birdies and two bogeys in his round to join Geary at four under, one shot clear of a group of six players. Among them was Dane Nicolai Højgaard, with the two-time DP World Tour winner making four birdies and a bogey in his 67 at Victoria Golf Club.
Home trio Haydn Barron, Zinyo Garcia and Connor McKinney were also four shots off the lead alongside Frenchman Pierre Pineau and American Gunner Wiebe.
“The last probably few weeks or the win in WA, that third day and the last day was pretty much how I've been hitting it the last five months,” Micheluzzi said.
“I hadn't played amazing golf over the last stretch, even last week wasn't amazing, just plodded around.
“I only had four bogeys and a double for the week, so I did well with the management, but I've been here a hundred times.
“So, I know this course like it's the back of my hand and I got the putter going too, which was kind of nice.”
