ralia's Todd Sinnott employed all his intimate knowledge of Royal Melbourne to seize the first-round lead in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship today with a brilliant, opening 67.
Sinnott, 22, a member of the nearby Metropolitan Golf Club and a regular around the links-style course at Royal Melbourne, took advantage of benign early-morning conditions, closing with a bomb for birdie at the 18th for a five-under total.
Renowned at the elite amateur level for his long hitting, today he picked Royal Melbourne apart with piercing two iron shots off the tee, hitting 14 of 15 fairways, and 16 greens in regulation. Sinnott, a member of Golf Australia's elite national amateur squad, employed his driver only twice all day, at the third hole and the 18th hole.
He made seven birdies, including a 10-footer at the 17th and a 20-footer at the 18th to put an exclamation mark on an outstanding day.
The Australian leads by a shot from the 2012 Asia-Pacific Championship winner, Guan Tianlang of China, who carded a steady, opening 68 with five birdies.
A further shot back are a group at three-under including Chinese Taipei's Chieh-Po Lee, Thailand's Tawan Phongphun and another Australian, Antonio Murdaca.
Sinnott said the key was to remain patient. "I don't think you'll ever see Royal Melbourne play as easy as that. In saying that, weather-wise, there's not much wind out there and to be honest,there were a few friendly pins out there.
"It's never an easy golf course in that if you get the ball on the wrong side of the hole, you're scrambling and you're working really hard to make pars,and sometimes you just can't make pars if you're in some spots out there.''
Sinnott is the 66th-ranked amateur in the world, and his recent form is excellent, including a tie for sixth at the Western Australian Open, a professional tournament, in Perth just last week. He was a semi-finalist in the Australian amateur championship this year, and was the state boys' champion in 2009.
He also lives in the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown, has lived his whole life in the city, and played the elite-level Master of the Amateurs tournament around Royal Melbourne in each of the past four years. By his own estimate, he has played Royal Melbourne at least 30 times, and that gives him quite an advantage over a lot of players in the AAC field.
Asked if he would be distracted by the thought of the prize on offer this week — a place in the 2015 Masters at Augusta National and a qualifying berth for the Open Championship at St Andrews — he said he would focus on the process. "OnceI'm out there, it's just trying to keep my ball in position and hit my spots. But it is a nice little prize!''
China's Tianlang is a stronger and better player than the 14-year-old who created world headlines in winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur two years ago, and today's round showed that fact. Tianlang said he was flying the golf ball at least 20 yards farther than he could manage two years ago, and he is naturally a more mature 16-year-old.
"I think it (the win in 2012)changed my life a little bit,but I think I'm still doing my own thing, still on the right track,'' he said. "I felt a lot better from the last couple months going into this tournament, so I think I will give a pretty good performance this week.''
Tianlang played alongside the 16-year-old Australian Ryan Ruffels, who carded a one-under-par 71. The pair have a strong friendship, and they played together at the nearby Victoria Golf Club last weekend.
"I told him on the tee: 'Ryan, show me how to play the course today'! said Tianlang. "He said: 'All right'.''
Virtually all of the leading players came from the morning groups. The greens were fast enough, but running below 12 on the stimp meter after heavy watering on Wednesday night, and the winds were light. But the southerly breezed stiffened in the afternoon, making life tough for the players who had afternoon draws. Ultimately, 11 players broke par.
Included among those on the wrong side of the draw were Chinese Taipei's Asian Games champion Pan Cheng-Tsung, who managed a 73, and South Korea's Gunn Yang, the United States amateur champion, who carded an 81.
Those players will hope to extract a better draw today, when they play in the morning.
Tee-offs are from 8am. Entry to Royal Melbourne is free.