Martin and Haller set early pace
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Victorian Andrew Martin and Queenslander Ryan Haller will take a one shot lead into the second day of the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship.
Martin and Haller shot rounds of 5-under 65 at City Golf Club in Toowoomba to lead the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament into day two.
The pair lead six players who are tied for third at 4-under par, they include Adam Crawford, Ashley Hall, Nick Cullen, Peter Shaw, Heath Reed and Brett Rankin.
Out in the morning field, it was Hall who set the early pace reeling off three birdies through his first four holes.
But with two birdies on the 5th and 6th holes Martin wasn’t far behind.
With additional birdies on the 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes, Martin’s his card was unblemished until the 18th where he sacrificed the outright tournament lead with a bogey.
In the afternoon field Haller was the best of the bunch despite being slow off the mark.
Even through his first five holes the Queenslander birdied the 6th to open the floodgates, finishing his round with another six birdies and two bogeys.
2011 NSW Open Champion Adam Crawford is another chasing victory this week and put in a solid start with a 4-under round.
Off early tomorrow morning Crawford was full of praise for the host golf club who this year hosts the tournament for the third time.
“I thought the course was fantastic, it’s the best I’ve seen at City Golf Club over the years and I’ve been coming here for 15 years, so it’s a credit to the club and also the superintendent for doing such a fantastic job,” said Crawford.
“I’ve sort of got a game plan for this golf course- there are certain holes that suit me well and I can attack with my driver.”
“I also had a really great group today – I played with Kurt Barnes and Gareth Paddison and we worked off each other well.”
Of the six amateurs in the field Bryden MacPherson and Cameron Smith fared best on day one shooting first rounds of 2-under par to sit inside the top 20.