Strong easterly winds have made scoring difficult for the first group of Kiwis out on the course on the opening day of The Players Series hosted by Geoff Ogilvy run as part of the revamped PGA Tour of Australasia.
Winds of up to 60 km per hour battered the Morning Peninsula of Victoria on Thursday with Daniel Hillier the best of the New Zealand players that played in the morning session, shooting a par round of 71.
Hillier managed to safely navigate the early holes on the course before a bogey on the 5th. He then shot three birdies in a row before another bogey on nine to be 1-under at the turn.
Two bogeys and a birdie on the back nine left Hillier ten shots off the lead at the end of day one.
Mike Hendry finished two shots behind Hillier with a 2-over 73 and Luke Brown finished with a 4-over 75.
The winds didn’t affect the game of New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri who has recently turned professional and tore the Rosebud North Course apart with a 10-under 61 to lead after day one just ahead of tournament host Geoff Ogilvy who finished with a 7-under 64.
.@rosebudccgolf course record 61 for Nathan Barbieri 👏
Brilliant stuff in difficult windy conditions with gusts of up to 60km/h 💨#ThePlayersSeries #PGAProud pic.twitter.com/55DjHeWEJ1
— #ThePlayersSeries (@PGAofAustralia) January 28, 2021
Campbell Rawson, James Anstiss and Sung Jin Yeo will hit the course in the afternoon.
The Players Series is a new and innovative tournament concept developed by the PGA Tour of Australasia and the WPGA Tour of Australasia and sees leading male and female professionals compete in the same field for the same prize purse.
The first tournament is this one at Rosebud Country Club, Victoria, Australia.
Play continues across the next three days and Sky Sport has announced they will be showing live coverage of the event on Saturday and Sunday.
Both days will be shown live on Sky Sport 6, Sky Sport Now and Sky Go. Saturday 30 January from 4 – 7 pm and on Sunday 31 January from 2 – 7 pm all NZDT.
