Murwillumbah’s Lucas Higgins will sleep soundly tonight after carding a solid six-under-par 66 at Mona Vale Golf Club to vault into second place at the Men’s NSW Medal.
Higgins sits two shots behind Canadian Joey Savoie, who’s stellar eight under par round was confirmed as a new course record this afternoon.
RELATED LINKS, LIVE SCORES
DAY ONE AM WRAP: LEADERS LIGHT IT UP ON DAY ONE
MEN’S SCORES – DAY ONE TERREY HILLS AND MONA VALE
WOMEN’S SCORES – DAY ONE TERREY HILLS
Higgins impressive round featured eight birdies and only two bogeys, with the highlight a remarkable back nine of six under 30 in the hot, humid conditions.
A trio of golfers now sits in third place at four under, including Jordie Garner, who carded 68 at Mona Vale. Maitland’s Hayden Gulliver and Adam Thorp added their names to the leaderboard with matching 68’s at Terrey Hills.
Thorp, who took out the IMG Junior World Championships in San Diego in July Last year was impressive, with only one bogey amongst his five birdies around the testing Terrey Hills layout.
LEADERS LIGHT IT UP ON DAY ONE
A Canadian leads by five after carding an eight-under-par 64 at Mona Vale Golf Club, while a 14-year-old Kiwi and a 15 year old Korean carded matching six under par 66 to lead the women’s Strokeplay at Terrey Hills this morning.
Playing in the very first group of the day, Joey Savoie was all but faultless around the Northern Peninsula layout, carding seven birdies and an eagle with only one blemish coming on the 9th in a stellar display of golf.
A distant five behind is last year’s NSW Amateur Medallist and the runner up in yesterday’s Australian Amateur, Nathan Barbieri, and England’s Benjamin Jones.
Barbieri’s effort is an impressive one after a marathon week in Melbourne. His return flight back to Sydney didn’t land until after 9.30pm last night.
A group of four sits another shot back at two under, including Canberra’s Josh Armstong, and St George’s Basin David Banwell, alongside Englishman Jack Hawksby & Finland’s Liari Saulo.
Korea’s Min A Yoon and New Zealand’s Fiona Xu, who were grouped together at Terrey Hills this morning, fed off one another to card matching six under par 66’s.
Two shots back is NSW Golf Club’s Hannah Park, England’s Cara Gainer, and an other Kiwi, Carmen Lim of Windross Farm Golf Club.
The impressive Yoon, who at age 15 already has three titles to her name, began her day with an incredible par save on the first after taking a penalty drop.
She followed it with three straight birdies to lay the foundation of her opening round.
“My iron shots were very good,” She said through an interpreter. “I had a caddy miss on the front nine.”
“I felt very comfortable today, and I am looking forward to the rest of the week,” she smiled.
The diminutive Xu, who hails from Akarana Golf Club in Auckland, was thrilled with her score.
“It’s my best round ever in a tournament,” the pint-sized Kiwi said.
“I had three birdies on the front and four under on the back.”
The highlight of the round for the14 year old was an incredible 15-metre putt for birdie on the 16th.
“It went in, and I jumped up and down a bit,” she beamed.
