Debutant professional Taylor MacDonald was all poise and patience during an impressive opening 70 at the Isuzu Queensland Open at Brookwater.
Followed by an enthusiastic gallery mostly from the Redcliffe and Pine Rivers Golf Clubs where he learnt his golf, MacDonald played a disciplined round in which he used his driver on only three tees.
Impressively, he showed admirable composure to recover from an opening double-bogey six on his opening hole (the 10th).
“I was actually very nervous but came back with a birdie on the next hole and was right from there,’’ he said.
MacDonald was behind the green for three on the 347m, par four, but his chip skidded across the green and rolled back down the fairway.
“I then hit a great pitch to about five feet and made the putt. I said to my caddie that I’d hit four good shots on the hole and still walked off with double-bogey,’’ said MacDonald.
“You have to know when to be conservative around here. If you hiot it off the fairway you’re going to have a wild day and it’s not going to be very nice in your head.
“Keep the ball in play and on the greens and you are going to have a relatively good score. You can be patient or aggressive … it can go both ways. It is about making judgements.’’
The strongly-built MacDonald, 23, said he hit driver on only the second, eighth and 17 holes.
“I’m lucky to have played a lot of golf at Brookwater and pretty much know how it plays.’’
Other amateur opening rounds included 71 Zach Murray (Victoria), 73, 75 Travis Smyth (NSW), 75 Cory Crawford (Qld) and 78 Anthony Quayle and James Macklin (both Qld).