KEY POINTS:
On a day when horror stories overwhelmed hot scoring, former champion Peter Fowler bagged an unwanted distinction at the New Zealand Open.
When the former champion eventually sent the ball to the bottom of the cup on the 11th he signed for an equal number of strokes.
"Two out of bounds off the tee," was Fowler's curt but succinct summary of his travails on the par five at Gulf Harbour.
Fowler's strife, on just his second hole of the day, made the rest of his round an arduous exercise.
The 1993 champion held on to score 80 although he could have fared better until he dropped three shots in his final five holes.
Conditions caused havoc for most of the 156-strong field with less than a fifth of the players under par after the opening round, compared with last year when well over half the field shot sub-par opening rounds in benign weather.
Scores yesterday in the wind and rain, ranged from 67 from Australian Scott Strange to amateur Peter Spearman-Burn who shot 85.
Toughest hole of the day? It depended on the draw, when the rain came and how the wind moved from the north-west to the south.
The course only surrendered four eagles yesterday with two of them on the 11th to Jarrod Moseley and Ryan Fox, son of former All Black Grant Fox, who balanced that fine effort with a nine later in his round on the par four sixth.
Australian Marcus Fraser eagled the 12th while Swede Christian Nilsson had a deuce on the par four fifth.
The 11th caused serious havoc for seven players with double bogeys while Fowler and four others had even higher scores.
The 17th, another par five exposed to the worst of the weather, was in the mix for the horror hole of the day with seven players having double bogeys and five others higher scores.
Certainly the toughest part of the course, statistically, were the neighbouring par three third and par four fourth holes where double and triple bogeys littered the markers' scoring sheets.
