A late start, sweltering conditions, and the threat of a storm did little to hamper Travis Smyth in his quest to conquer the NSWPGA Championship at Riverside Oaks Golf Resort today.
Smyth is the best placed amateur sitting four shots behind the leaders after carding a bogey-free first round score of 3-under par 69. Former NSW Amateur Champion Jarryd Felton leads the tournament alongside Queensland veteran Marcus Cain, after the pair shot matching 7-under par rounds of 65.
It was a good start for the Golf NSW High Performance squad member.
“I played solid today,” says Smyth. “I found a lot of fairways and greens.”
Smyth made a couple of birdies on the front nine to turn in 2-under par, then he followed up with one more on the back nine around the North West Sydney Resort’s Bungool layout.
If the putter had behaved it could’ve been even better.
“The greens are a test I reckon,” he says. “It’s really easy to hit it to 20 feet and they’re a bit tricky to read…But bogey free feels pretty good.”
Smyth is taking every chance he can get to work out the new layout at Riverside Oaks. After all it’s the home of the 2016 NSW Amateur Championship.
“The boys playing this week and myself are going to be feeling pretty confident going into the NSW amateur. A good finish this week will be good for the confidence playing around here.” He says.
Besides Smyth, the best of the amateurs in the field are Harrison Endycott at even par. Daniel Gale and Mitchell Norbis sit at 1-over par. Troy Moses and Dale Brandt-Richards have some work in store to make the cut after posting rounds of 4-over par, while Isaac Noh is at 8-over par.