By Neville Idour

The first round of the 102nd NZ Open Presented by Sky Sport produced all you could hope for. A virtually unknown Australian barely inside the top 1,000 ranked golfers produced a superb 61 for a four shot lead  over several players.  Happily for New Zealand golf fans Steven Alker despite not having a ranking in the OWGR top 1,000 confirmed his game is good enough to more than contend after a fine first round of 65 (-6) on the Remarkables course. Playing with one of the favourites Daniel Hillier he birdied his first two holes plus the ninth, then on the second nine sank four more birdies offset by a surprising bogey on the shortish 15th. Meanwhile Hillier also carded seven birdies, but three bogeys set him back including on the long par 4 ninth, his 18th.

Christchurch amateur Kazuma Kobori showed he is amateur in name but has the professional game with a typical error free round with five birdies. His putting was flawless including from 10 feet on the 18th. He was desperately unlucky on the short 16th when his bunker shot from 25 metres hit the bottom of the flag and rocketed back off the green leaving him a 25metre putt which sat on the edge of the hole. So a possible eagle or easy birdie was lost . Then on 17 from off the green his birdie putt sat on the edge again. Nevertheless at -5 he is well placed.

It was pleasing to see the experienced popular left hander Gareth Paddison relishing another shot at the NZ Open. On par after 13 holes he finished with a wet sail to spectacularly eagle the par 5 around the lake then birdie his 16th and 17th holes to finish -4 nicely in touch. The Hills ProAm winner Nick Voke battled to a -2 on the more difficult Coronet course. Runner up in 2020 Josh Geary would be disappointed with his even par after five birdies.

As always the Australian challenge is alive and well. World ranked 993 Lawry Flynn on -5 showed rankings can mean little. In fact but for a disastrous triple bogey 6 on the par three 18th island green his nine birdies and lone bogey would have left him -8. Likewise Corey Crawford on -7  unravelled with three consecutive bogeys on 15,16 and 17 to finish-4.

World ranked 992 Christopher Wood was solo leader on -8 after 12 holes following 6 birdies plus an eagle on the par 5 10th on the Remarkables course after an eagle on the par 5 10th. Another birdie followed on the very inviting 14th.  He added the finishing touch with an excellent birdie on the par 3 18th to end a flawless 61 (-10) and a four shot lead. Plying his trade on the Australasian Tour he had only produced three top 10’s since the beginning of 2022 so his blinder was a little unexpected.

Japan’s Yosuke Asaji OWGR 463 played solid golf to be even after nine holes but caught fire on the back nine. Birdies on 10, 12, and 14 were followed by a stunning eagle on the short 17th, holing out from 90 metres.

Very much a dark horse is Kieran Vincent (Zimbabwe) with a world ranking of 991. However his recent form at the Asian Tour International Series produced finishes of T22, T5 T9, T52 and T22 giving a sniff that he is not without game. So it proved on the more difficult Coronet course where he picked up seven shots on a seven hole stretch to be in the lead on -7 after just 10 holes. An eagle on the par 5 18th was a standout. His lead was shortlived after a bogeys on 12, 14 and 17. He finished (-3).

It is worth noting only two of the top 12 players were on the more testing Coronet course so it will not surprise if there is something of a reversible of fortunes when the field play the other course tomorrow. Watch this space.

One of the features today was no roping of fairways which made a huge difference for the spectators experience.