KEY POINTS:
Joint leader Craig Parry was one of the lucky ones to reach the sanctuary of The Hills clubhouse yesterday just as the local winds took hold at the New Zealand golf Open, carding a four-under 68.
Parry, fellow Australian Paul Sheehan and England's Matthew Woods have a one shot lead over a group of 10 players, including Kiwi Michael Long.
Another New Zealander Gareth Paddison is a further shot back in a group including Australian Masters runner-up Daniel Chopra.
Michael Campbell, one under with three holes to play, finished the opening round one over.
Teeing off the 10th hole at 7.40am, Parry took full advantage of the ideal early conditions to blitz around his first nine with a four-under 32 and kept steady for the rest of the round.
The gale began blowing with around two holes of his day remaining, and Parry was relieved to get through winds he described as "about 20 knots" with only a three-putt bogey on the 7th, his 16th, somewhat spoiling what was otherwise a superb round.
So it's no surprise that Parry admitted he was happy to be in just on the stroke of noon.
His impressions of the course was positive - although it might've been a different story had he teed off in the afternoon - and he said the course would become a completely different proposition to those slogging it out in the later rounds.
"It's a course that when it isn't blowing, you can go out and shoot a low number; if the wind blows like it normally would, par's a very good round," Parry said.
"We had great conditions out there earlier, the greens were reasonably receptive, the putting surfaces were very good and I played really well."
While there was disappointment he didn't make more of an impression in his second nine holes, it wasn't something he would lose too much sleep over.
"I had plenty of opportunities that didn't go in - it's just one of those things. If they start going in you get a bit of momentum, but they didn't go in on the back nine," he said.
"I would say I played pretty well both sides - there's probably more birdies on the back nine the way the wind was blowing this morning."
With the wind taking charge and expected to do so for the rest of the afternoon, Parry sent a warning to the players still on the course.
"It's just very difficult to understand where to hit it because of the angles. A lot of time you're in a valley and there's hills either side of you and you don't understand where the wind is blowing from," he said.
"There's some really difficult greens out there as well. The 16th is right up there with the hardest green I've ever played on."
* It was golf, but not as you know it, for spectators wowed by The Hills golf course at Arrowtown yesterday.
About 7300 people drifted through the main gates of jeweller Michael Hill's private course for the first day of the Open yesterday, spreading out to take up positions around the greens and fairways.
Many headed straight for the banks surrounding the sumptuous 18th green, overlooking the course's final hole and striking clubhouse, and divided their time between following the action and simply taking in the view - which stretched from the green to the majestic Remarkables mountain range in the distance.
For Wayne and Patsy Milne, of Timaru, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the course as well as their favourite players.
Milne's wife was the avid golfer of the pair, but he was keen to come and examine the private course up close.
"We went to the British Open years ago and there was nowhere like this,"
Milne said while relaxing on the grass beside the leaderboard.
"It's a lot better for the spectators."
