Tight race for top in New Zealand

Just one shot separates players at the head of the leaderboard in the Holden New Zealand Open.

Australia's Steven Bowditch leads on -8. Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth carded a flawless 65 to lie one behind, joined by Swedish trio Niclas Fasth, Christopher Hanell and Joakim Haeggman and Australia's Simon Nash.

Ireland's Damien McGrane is best of the Irish, tied in 17th place at -5. Peter Lawrie is at -8 while Gary Murphy finished at one over.

Australia’s Craig Parry, winner of the Heineken Classic in Melbourne on Sunday, remains in contention for back-to-back victories after an opening 68, while the man he beat in a play-off, left-hander Nick O’Hern, carded a 70.

On a day of low scoring which saw more than 100 of the 156 starters under par, local favourite Michael Campbell was one of the few to miss out, the Kiwi struggling to a one over par 73.

Forsyth picked up three birdies in an outward 33 and played the harder back nine even better, the 28-year-old from Glasgow coming home in 32 with four birdies.

“It was a great way to finish,” said Forsyth, who finished third in the season-ending Volvo Masters last year. “I played solidly all day and my putting was pretty strong.

“It’s nice to turn it around because I struggled the last two weeks in Singapore and Melbourne. I started to hit the ball much better in the pro-am on Wednesday and it just seems to have clicked.”

Former Ryder Cup player Fasth also came home in 32 as he looked to put a disappointing 2004 season behind him.

Fasth, who finished second in the 2001 Open at Lytham to earn his place in the Ryder Cup, endured a miserable year on the US Tour, missing the cut in 12 of his 21 events and recording just one top 20 finish.

He lost his card after finishing 172nd on the money list and is ranked 155th in the world, but demonstrated his potential with two top 10s on his visits to Europe.

“I am looking forward to playing well again,” said Fasth. “I had a really bad year last year but felt I was getting on top of my game last week and expected to play well here.

“I enjoyed playing in America but I had been pushing really hard because I felt I had more in me than being around 50th in the world. I felt I wanted to take the next step and it backfired on me. It’s tough in America and if you don’t play well it’s really tough.”

Leader Bowditch was on the verge of quitting the game in 2004 after making just one cut in eight events on the European Challenge Tour.

The 21-year-old, who finished seventh as a 17-year-old amateur in the Australian Open in 2000, returned home to work in the pro shop at Kooralbyn Resort before being persuaded by family and friends to return to professional golf.

After playing a few pro-ams in Queensland he won the Queensland Open and finished third in the Australian Open and fourth in the Australian Masters late last year.

“I was having a tough time last year and just didn’t feel like playing golf,” Bowditch said. “I hung up the clubs for two months but fortunately my friend and family encouraged me to give it another go.

“I just jumped in the car with my girlfriend and went off to a few pro-ams and it all started to come together.”