BARNES STRIKES WITH NEW PUTTER AND STANCE

Thursday, Mar 5, 2009

New South Welshman Kurt Barnes got some timely advice from an old friend and used that and a new putter to fire an eight-under 64 in the first round of the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship at Clearwater today.
 
Barnes had an eagle and seven birdies in his superb round and a 6m birdie putt at the last to equal the course record of 63 held by American Ryan Palmer and Australian Steve Bowditch shaved the hole.
 
Barnes, 27, said the phone call to his mate and former swing coach, Simon Deep, had to be made after being continually let down by his putting.
 
After watching footage of Barnes, Deep spotted that his knees were too bent and the arms bowed. So Barnes equipped himself with a different putter after last week's Moonah Classic in Melbourne and adopted a new pose, straightening his legs and hunching his back which allowed the forearms to push through the line of the putt.

``I should have made that phone call three months ago,'' lamented Barnes. ``I've been playing pretty well for the few months but have a bit of trouble with the flat stick.''
 
Apart from a 10m birdie putt at the eighth, Barnes hit the ball in close and confidently holed putts from 3m and closer. The big-hitting Australian played the four par-5s in four-under par, the highlight of his round being an eagle at the 474m par-14th where he holed his sand shot from a nestled lie and with the ball breaking right-to-left downhill.
 
Barnes, a former Australian and New Zealand amateur champion, has had two victories on the Von Nida tour since turning professional in 2003.

With the 78 players who teed off in the morning having completed their rounds, Barnes held a two-shot lead over American Jason Enloe and at five-under were Australian Alistair Presnell, Sweden's Jonas Blixt, and Americans Josh Teater and Major Manning.