Australians begin well in Dallas
Adam Scott – a near faultless display – file photo Australian Golf Media
Australian golfers are well positioned after the opening day of the AT&T Byron Nelson event at the TPC Craig Ranch in Dallas.
Adam Scott is tied for second place and three shots from the lead held by Korea’s S.Y. Noh, Jason Day is another shot back in a share of 4th and PGA Tour debutante, David Micheluzzi is in a share of 10th and just two shots from those in second place.
The event or its equivalent has been good to Australians over the years with Bruce Devlin, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Steve Bowditch having won previously and this week could well see another in line for victory.
Not all of the events have been played at this venue with Craig Ranch only playing host for the last three years.
Scott played early on day one and continued on from where he left off at last week’s event at Quail Hollow with fine opening round including an outward nine of 30 and even though he failed to get up and down at the 15th and took bogey, he birdied his final two holes to finish three back of Noh who was round in 60 to lead by three.
“Yeah, all really good solid stuff, especially off the tee, “ said Scott. ”It’s probably the best I’ve driven it in forever. That was a nice way to start every hole.
“I took advantage of that nicely, certainly out of the gates on some of the long par-4s, birdieing three of the first four holes on that side is a nice way to start. Was happy to keep it going all the way around.
“The game was feeling really good there last week, and getting a result is always good for the confidence, too. Coming here on a course that’s going to throw a lot of birdies out there, getting in that attack mindset was key, and take advantage of the good swings.”
Day whose first PGA Tour victory came in this event in 2010, began slowly with seven straight pars before he birdied seven of the last eleven holes to finish with 64.
“A lot of patience in the first seven holes,” said Day. “It’s kind of hard to be patient sometimes when you’re watching your playing partner shoot 6-under through 6, playing some pretty top-notch golf. It was interesting and sometimes you’ve just got to admire it. He’s been an impressive player since he’s got on TOUR, so it’s nice to be able to watch that.
“But it was good to get kind of a 4-under run in the middle part of my round. I think maybe 20-under or so will win this, so you’re thinking at least five a day would be good, and it was nice to get a couple more than that.
“I feel like I’ve just kind of learnt to just take it day by day, but obviously it would be great to have four more days like this. I know that I’m heading into a major next week, and it would be nice to carry some good momentum into the PGA, especially coming off a missed cut at Charlotte.”
David Micheluzzi – file photo Australian Golf Media
While the performance of Scott and Day was impressive perhaps even more so was the debut round of the PGA Tour of Victorian David Micheluzzi who is playing the event on invite.
Micheluzzi was 1 over par through seven holes before five birdies and an eagle saw him finish with 65 and a share of 10th place.
“Through seven holes it was not looking great,” said Micheluzzi. “But had a couple birdies, 17, 18, then holed a long putt on 2 and then holed a pitching wedge from 123 meters out, so that kind of all of a sudden I was 4-under when I was 1-over through 7 I think it was.
“Then just played solid on the way in. Like I made par on 9 just from a pretty bad drive, but I’m stoked. Anything under par I would have been happy, but 6-under is delightful.”
Micheluzzi was also asked if there were any first hole nerves given it was his first competitive round on the PGA Tour.
“Funny, on the tee it was fine, and then I got on the green and then it kind of kicked in a little bit. Kind of was a little bit nervy on some putts. I missed a few early and then got the feel for the greens and then yeah, just took off.”
When asked what he would takeaway from his first exposure to the PGA Tour, Micheluzzi added; “Yeah, it’s probably something I’ll never forget, and just the run I went on, as well, which I have been doing that of late in tournaments back home and then one in Korea, as well, where once I got running, like nothing could stop me, which was cool. But just got to work out all the little things like the little missed putts here and there. But yeah, I’m just excited.”
Greg Chalmers, Harrison Endycott, Cameron Percy and Min Woo Lee are the next best placed at 2 under and in 65th place in the low scoring event.
