Han takes Australian PGA lead
COOLUM: Korea’s Han Min-Kyu upstaged a host of more fancied players as he fired a course record nine-under-par 62 to take a big lead after the opening round of the Australian PGA here today.
Han, 26, shot 11 birdies and two bogeys on the Hyatt
Regency course to lead Australian Ryan Haller by four shots. A large group of players finished on four under, including former US PGA champion Stewart Appleby, and fellow Australians Andrew Dodt, Matthew Griffin, Scott Strange and Henry Epstein.
Last week’s Australian Open winner Adam Scott was a shot further back, while Robert Allenby, winner of the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa on Sunday, was tied for 17th at one-under alongside defending champion Geoff Ogilvy. Crowd favourite John Daly was still in contention after carding an even-par 71.
Han, who spent five years between the ages of 16 and
21 in the US under Florida-based coach Phil Litson, started his morning round with four successive birdies and made six birdies in his opening eight holes.
He made another five on the back nine, with bogeys on the 18th (his ninth hole) and the first (his 10th). The Korean read the greens to perfection, needing just 21 putts over the 18 holes. “I feel like I was in heaven,” Han said after shooting only his second round of 62 in his career. “Maybe I was like Tiger Woods today,” he said.
Scott, whose girlfriend Ana Ivanovic attracted almost as much attention as the golf, said that a sub-60 round was not out of the question.
“He (Han) wasn’t far from it
if he shot 62,” Scott said. “Someone could get it done, maybe we could have a 59 — I think I can shoot that.”
