MELBOURNE – Home contender Lucas Herbert left compatriot Cameron Smith in his wake once again with a sparkling 63 that earned him a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Australian Open on Thursday, with his LIV team captain two shots off the pace.
Australia’s forgotten former prodigy Su Oh and South Korean amateur Yang Hyo-jin emerged as surprise co-leaders for the women’s title at the dual gender event played across Kingston Heath and Victoria Golf Club on Melbourne’s sandbelt.
Herbert made the most of preferred lies on Victoria’s fairways, which were left soggy by a Wednesday storm, as he rolled in six birdies and signed off with an eagle on the par-five ninth.
Eight-under for the day, the 28-year-old held a one-stroke lead over Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and young American Ryggs Johnston, who shot a 65 at Kingston Heath despite having missed out on a practice round due to the weather.
Herbert mowed down British Open winner Smith in the final round to win the New South Wales Open two weeks ago and deny his Ripper GC skipper a drought-breaking win.
“He will be the guy to beat this week I’d imagine,” Herbert told reporters of Smith.
“I’ll be shocked if he’s not pushing me pretty hard on the weekend or I’m pushing him pretty hard on the weekend to win the Stonehaven Trophy.”
Smith had slammed the Kingston Heath setup at the pro-am on Wednesday, blaming organisers for turning the usually fast and hard course into an “American-style” target golf setup.
There were few complaints after he shot 65 at Victoria on a glorious, calm morning.
Smith started slowly after teeing off at the 10th but caught fire at the par-three 14th, racking up six consecutive birdies.
“Didn’t do too much wrong today. Bit draggy there at the start, then finally woke up. The coffee worked,” said the former world number two, who was runner-up in his bid for a fourth Australian PGA Championship title last Sunday, two strokes shy of winner Elvis Smylie.
“The course is definitely gettable … The greens are soft and there wasn’t much wind out there this morning so a lot of those par-fives played really quite short.”
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