Victorian amateur Zach Murray has continued his white-hot form on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia to lead the Isuzu Queensland Open.
Murray equaled the par-71 course record at The Brisbane Golf Club with a round of 6-under 65 in the opening 18 holes of the championship.
It’s the fifth consecutive professional round the amateur has lead over the last two weeks.
“There was a bit of a sense of calm I had out there today knowing I had the win last week, it just takes a weight off my shoulders,” said Murray.
“I just played sensible golf again, I think I only hit two drivers out there and put the trust in my 2-iron like I did last week.
“I hit some close shots, I didn’t have to stress about anything which was really nice and I holed a couple of really nice par saves as well.
“I just sort of flowed on from last week not worrying about the score but it’s obviously nice to come out of the blocks fast again.”
Murray certainly wasn’t overawed playing with accomplished professionals in multiple ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia champion Adam Blyth and Web.com Tour player Rhein Gibson, the win last week re-affirming the belief he belongs on the professional circuit.
Blyth both shot 5-under 66 and Gibson 4-under 67 to sit just shy of Murray in the lead.
“I definitely feel more comfortable playing the professional events then I did last year. I had a couple of solid results last year but nothing near what I did last week,” added Murray.
“So it’s just that feeling of being comfortable. Adam and Rhein were really good today, they’re cracking guys and they both played super steady which just shows how good you have to be to compete out here.”
Queenslander Blyth is hot on the tail of Murray and will be looking forward to playing in his group again after they caught fire on their back-9.
The trio combined for 11 birdies and just the one bogey through holes one to nine, all three recording a birdie on the 9th.
“It was nice to finish the way I did, I got off to a pretty slow start, I was 1-over through seven holes so I wasn’t really doing too much, just watching Zach make a ton of birdies,” said Blyth who returns to the Isuzu Queensland Open this year after missing 2017 due to international playing duties.
“So I knew they were out there and watching him, it was kind of spurring us on a little then on the back-9 I started to get into a rhythm and we all started to play really nicely.”
Gibson is tied for third at 4-under the card alongside Jordan Zunic and Kevin Yuan who makes his professional debut in Australia after spending the majority of 2018 playing on the PGA TOUR Series – China.
Aaron Pike, Charlie Dann, Daniel Nisbet, Josh Younger, Adam Stephens, Brad Moules, Blake Proverbs and Jarrad Santi are all tied at 3-under the card.
Antonio Murdaca and Alex Edge were best of the afternoon field shooting 3-under the card to join the logjam in 6th position.
Becky Kay made history in becoming the first woman to compete in the Isuzu Queensland Open, she shot 4-over to sit in a tie for 96th position.
The leading group of Zach Murray, Adam Blyth and Rhein Gibson will tee off the 1st tee at 11:45am.