KEY POINTS:
West Australian Scott Strange roared in with a late charge just before the rubbish bins went out and the lights were switched off to nab the opening round lead at the New Zealand Open last night.
The 29-year-old from Perth whistled in birdies at the 15th, 17th and 18th holes to card a 4-under 67 and steal a march on three compatriots, Kim Felton, Jarrod Moseley and Greg Chalmers, who are a shot back, on a grubby day at the $1.5 million Blue Chip-sponsored event at Gulf Harbour.
A cluster of nine players are at 2-under, including three New Zealanders, Stephen Scahill, Michael Long and debutant Waikato professional Mark Purser. A further 15 cram the leaderboard at 1-under.
Strange admitted he was lucky to dodge the worst of the weather on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. The bulk of the rain came in the morning, and in tandem with blustery winds, made life one big squelch.
There were 100 better ways to spend yesterday morning and anyone who finished even par or better will have slept well.
Strange is 12th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and his varied scalps include the 2002 Vanuatu Open, the Port Hedland Classic the following year, the Myanmar Open last year and the Philippines Open last May.
He holed a 1m putt at 17 and a 6m effort at 18 to go top. "When I got a realistic birdie chance I holed the putt," he said.
For a time late in the day, Purser was heading for a share of top spot in his first pro event. But he dropped his approach shot at the 9th, his final hole, into the sand, and that was that.
Purser, a member of this year's Eisenhower Trophy amateur team, said he felt pretty good yesterday, getting over an early dose of nerves.
"I was a little tentative but I made quite a few good putts on the back [his first] nine and then started to strike the ball better and the birdies came," he said of a round which included four birdies.
Sydneysider Chalmers put his putting horrors last Sunday at the Australian Masters behind him. He took five strokes on one green, and finished tied for second.
"I got out of trouble well a couple of times, got lucky a couple of times but I was pleased with the opportunities I gave myself," he said of a day on which he got birdies at three of the four par 3 holes.
And the 33-year-old leftie is not fretting over missed chances - "a lot of guys would give their back teeth for the score I shot today".
Felton had a good day, picking up four birdies before his only bogey at the par 4 393m 18th, while Moseley was out early and coped well with the worst of the weather. He was 4-under after his first four holes but a double bogey 6 at his 15th set him back.
1996 champion Long did well in the morning - "the 4.30am wake-up doesn't seem so bad", he quipped after battling through the elements. "It's going to be a long week, there's going to be some tired boys."
Michael Campbell carded an even par round and remains confident."I struck the ball very well from tee to green. I got the pace of the putts a little bit wrong, but that's easy to fix. I'm due a low one."
And to show the quirks of the game, world No 22 Campbell's score was matched by Mike Duncumb, who made use of his local knowledge as the Gulf Harbour club pro. Auckland's Leighton James and James Gill of Hamilton led the amateurs at 2-over.
