Wellington left-hander Gareth Paddison, despite a double-bogey at the final hole, shot a five-under 67 to be the leading New Zealander after the first round of the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship at the Clearwater course in Christchurch today.
Paddison, after seven birdies in the first 13 holes, got to a shot off the pace, but three straight blocked shots off the tee resulted in a bogey at 15 and then the double at 18 when he found the lateral hazard with his drive, flew his third shot over the green and pitched and two-putted.
Even so, he ended the round just three shots behind Australian leader Kurt Barnes and said that he would have happily taken 67 at the start of the day.
``It was terribly frustrating to finish the way I did dropping three shots on two holes at the end as I had a favourable wind for me, coming left to right which helps my draw, but I blocked my last three drives.''
Paddison, a regular on the European Tour, said the spate of poor drives came out of the blue. ``Coming into the week I hadn't been too happy with the way I was driving it but I drove it really solid today and felt good down the stretch.
``It was disappointing because I hadn't shot six or seven under for a long time and you feel you've gone back mentally. But it is good to be on the leader board especially after the first round. I played nicely from tee to green and converted most of my birdie opportunities.''
A shot behind Paddison and four off the lead was New Zealand's top-ranked professional David Smail while Auckland's Richard Lee and Hamilton's Steve Alker both had three-under 69s.
Phil Tataurangi and Brad Shilton kept in contention with 70s and 18-year-old amateur drawcard Danny Lee and Bradley Iles were both one-under on 71.
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