Golf: Different routes, one purpose at Open

Brad Iles (left) and Peter Lonard. Photos / Bay of Plenty Times, Getty Images

One is setting out on what he hopes is a road to redemption. The other is stepping on to a pathway of promise.

Golfers Peter Lonard and Brad Iles have the same aim in 2010, one which sees the pair begin the US$600,000 ($848,000) New Zealand Open here today united in purpose.

They have travelled different routes to get here but both hope the opening Nationwide Tour event of the season kick-starts campaigns to earn them promotion to the elite PGA Tour in the United States for 2011.

Australian Lonard will make his Nationwide debut at The Hills on the outskirts of Arrowtown while New Zealander Iles will look to improve on the promise he showed on the circuit last year. Both want to end the year inside the top 25, which will earn them direct entry to the PGA Tour ranks for next season. In that, they have much in common with the remainder of the 156-strong field dominated by Americans and Australians.

Lonard, 42 and one of his country's most dominant players for the past decade, is highly motivated to do well in his first appearance in the New Zealand Open since 1998.

Injury stalled his career last year, when he lost his PGA Tour status after making just 13 of 30 cuts, his worst return since joining the top tour in 2002.

The slump was caused by back pain later diagnosed as a hip problem. It first arose in 2008 but it was not until late last year that Lonard was advised on the correct course of treatment.

He is matter-of-fact about his predicament, but shies away from blaming the injury for his troubles and did not think it warranted seeking a medical exemption to extend his stay on the world's toughest tour.

He simply wants to earn the right to play there again.

"If you play good you get the rewards, and if you don't you have to deal with the consequences," the two-time Australian Open champion said yesterday.

"If you play good you get the benefits, and if you play crap you get what you deserve."

He has not even walked 18 holes for two months, meaning his expectations are hardly sky-high entering the first round on the par-72 6110m course owned by jeweller Michael Hill.

"I'd like to get myself in a position to have an opportunity to win or at the least play four consistent rounds and feel healthy at the end of it."

Lonard has launched himself into a daily stretching and exercise regime to eradicate the problem with his hip but he has been advised it could be another three months before the discomfort is behind him.

"I have been doing the exercises for three to four weeks. It is definitely improving and I think I am on the right track," said Lonard, whose one PGA Tour title came at the 2005 Heritage Classic when he shot a career-low round of 62.

Iles, 26, is spared the fitness concerns of his older rival, but is motivated to make a strong start to the new season after narrowly failing to reach his objective in 2009.

At the midway point of last season he was on target to earn his PGA Tour spurs but then slowed in the latter part of the season to eventually finish 45th on the Nationwide moneylist with income of US$142,000.

Lonard's presence will make his job all the tougher, but Iles is confident his game is in shape to take him all the way to the main tour in 2011.

"I have done a lot of work on my wedge play and putting. I know I have the tools to make birdies and go low," he said.

"I feel I am in a position now to contend every week on the Nationwide Tour," said Iles, who has yet to make the cut in the New Zealand Open as a professional.

His best result in the championship remains the 15th placing he achieved as an amateur in 2004 at The Grange in Auckland.

Iles, one of 16 New Zealanders in the field this week, said Lonard's predicament underlined the importance of fitness in the modern game.

"He's got one of the best brains out there. He's just got to get his body right and Bob's your uncle. I remember watching him in the latter years of my amateur career and he just dominated."

Lonard has a couple of fellow wise Australians in the field, notably the old firm of Peter Senior and Craig Parry, who tied for fourth here last year alongside New Zealander Josh Geary. Others of note include Colombian Manny Villegas.

SMAIL TROUBLED BY SHORT GAME

David Smail, New Zealand's top ranked golfer, will tee off in the New Zealand Open today uncertain of the quality of his game.

Having missed playing at the New Zealand PGA Championships at Clearwater last weekend because of sponsor commitments, Smail said he would have liked to have been at The Hills on Monday, rather than late Tuesday, and to have played a couple of rounds in advance of the Open.

"I have been practising a fair bit, but have been struggling and I don't know why. My driver is going all right, but not the rest of my game. I've hit a few balls now and its starting to feel better."

Smail said he liked the layout of The Hills course, but that it was not kind to him last year.

"I didn't play well last year and I had been playing well coming into the tournament. There are some tricky holes out there," he said.

Smail played in three of the four majors last year, finished fifth on the 2009 Australasian Tour Order of Merit and 17th on the Japanese Tour. He was runner-up three times last year, twice in Japan and at the NZPGA.

- NZPA