Bowditch and Choi set Australian Open pace

Australia’s Steven Bowditch matched Choi Joon-woo’s six-under-par 66 to share the lead with the South Korean after the opening round of the Australian PGA Championship at Coolum.

On a day when a host of players including Jason Day threatened record scores and fellow Queenslander Adam Scott staged a remarkable recovery to stay in the hunt, it was firstly Choi and then Bowditch who capitalised most on the favourable conditions.

One shot adrift are Australians Aaron Baddeley, Andre Stolz and Aaron Townsend as well as American Bubba Watson, while Steve Conran and Marcus Fraser are among those tied for seventh two shots back.

Open champion Darren Clarke, Day, Robert Allenby, American Rickie Fowler and South Korean YE Yang all lie at three under par, while Scott, Stuart Appleby and defending champion Peter Senior all finished with 70s.

Having seen Tristan Lambert, Rohan Blizard, Clarke and Fraser all lead during the morning and then Watson and Townsend post 67s, Choi reached the turn two under and picked up an eagle and three birdies coming home.

“I played this course last year for four rounds so I know the course well (and) I’m really enjoying being able to play here again,” he said.

“This is a very big tournament, there are many good players in the field so it is very competitive out there (and) I have to make sure I don’t get too excited in the coming days if I want to keep playing well.”

Bowditch made a mixed start with a birdie at the first followed quickly by bogey at the second but he played his first nine in two-under and reached five-under with three further birdies before responding to another dropped shot at the 16th with successive birdies to finish.

“My putting (and) my short game were pretty scrappy around the greens (but) I hit the ball probably as good as I have hit it for a good six or seven months today, so it could have been better or it could have been worse,” Bowditch said.

Day, meanwhile, began in blistering fashion with birdies at five of his first seven holes and after grabbing a sixth at the ninth, was still at five-under at the turn having also bogeyed the eighth.

However, he lost momentum over the second half of his round to finish three under par.

After a terrible back nine that featured a triple bogey, a double bogey and a pair of bogeys that left him five-over, Scott blitzed the front nine in 30 shots with six birdies to lie two-under.

Scott’s woes stemmed largely from three visits to the water in four holes from the 11th while Clarke reached four-under at one point only to make back-to-back bogeys at the fourth and fifth but a birdie at the sixth left him in touch with the leaders.