Cameron Davis can once again dream of playing the US Masters after a stunning opening round of 65 at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, played at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, Korea.
Davis was a heart-broken runner-up at the 2015 event in Hong Kong, sitting one shot off the lead when a nearby typhoon saw the cancellation of the final day’s play.
On the eve of today's round, Davis admitted to being “fired up” about bouncing back, and the New South Welshman delivered with four birdies in his opening six holes, and closing with four from his last five to earn a two shot buffer after over Yuwa Kosahira of Japan.
The morning wasn't as fruitful for fellow Australians Anthony Quayle of Queensland and Travis Smyth of NSW, who shot rounds of 73 and 74 respectively.
Notching eight birdies on the card alongside a lone bogey, Davis made the most of a near faultless display into the greens.
“I didn’t really make too many really long putts. I made a couple of 15 foot putts and one on my second last hole [the par-3 8th] which was about 20 feet,” Davis said.
“It was straight up the hill and a tiny left to right break in it, all you have to do is get the ball to the hole and if they’re on line they’re going in obviously, as the greens are rolling very well.
“Most of the longer length putts I had were uphill and relatively easy to hole once you get them started, you just have to hit them hard enough.”
With his father and younger brother his lone fans in the gallery, Davis was relaxed and showed no signs of last year's disappointment.
“I’m just trying to enjoy it really, the more pressure you put on yourself in at event like this the harder it is to perform and the harder it is to concentrate on the task at hand,” Davis said.
“I just enjoyed being where I was, enjoying the scenery and enjoying the golf course and just relax and hit one shot at a time. It was nice to play some really good golf and I’ll try to keep this form going.”