Date: December 13, 2007
Author: Adam Lucius at The Australian
Kim Felton didn&apost expect to be anywhere near the leaders after the opening day of the MFS Australian Open. If truth be known, he&aposs probably in ownership of a one-way ticket back to Perth in the belief he wouldn&apost survive Friday&aposs cut. His recent form on the US Nationwide Tour has been that bad. But after taming The Australian&aposs testing course to fire a five-under 67 on Thursday, leaving him two strokes behind leader Lee Williamson, Felton&aposs weekend plans may have to be altered. “I would have laughed if you had of said to me I&aposll have 67 this afternoon, only because I&aposve just been struggling a heap,” Felton said after his impressive first round. “It&aposs (my career) still standing on the Nationwide Tour but it&aposs definitely dropped off in the last two years.” “(I&aposve just been) struggling swing-wise and with a few other things off the golf course.” It got so horrific that Felton, once regarded as the most accurate putter on the US Nationwide Tour, seriously contemplated spending the majority of his time in Australia. He reasoned playing in Australia made more sense than struggling in the US. “I think &aposBadds&apos (Aaron Baddeley) said that he was thinking about a few years ago giving up and Pete (Lonard) said the same thing last week,” Felton said. “I think every golfer thinks that. I was just getting a bit sick of the travelling and being away from home all the time.” “(But) I&aposve been lucky enough to have family and girlfriends that travel with me.” “If they couldn&apost travel I definitely would have hung around for three or four months at a time at home.” But then days like Thursday come along and suddenly the world looks a lot brighter. “I said to my caddy walking off the (18th) green today, it actually felt like a bit of the old Kim Felton out there,” he said. “We&aposre trying to get it all back together and hopefully continue doing how it was a couple of years ago.” “I&aposm looking forward to getting out there and hopefully continuing the next few days.”