High five lifts Lucas after slip
PRE- TOURNAMENT favourite Lucas Herbert risked crashing out of the Vic Open but salvaged his round yesterday to remain in contention at Thirteenth Beach.
Herbert started two-under but slipped to even when he shot a double bogey on the par 3 12th on the Creek course after putting his tee shot in the water.
It left the fifth-ranked Australian in the world in danger of missing the cut, but he peeled off five birdies for the remainder of his round to sign for 69.
But high-profile playing partner Haotong Li was not as fortunate, missing the cut after blotting his card with three bogeys in the space of six holes on final nine.
Herbert will start today seven shots off the pace behind outright leader Robin SciotSiegrist.
“I would have like to have gotten off to a better start,” he said.
“That put me behind the eight-ball and I really struggled, was off with my rhythm — just didn’t feel like I had a part of my game to lean on.
“To make five birdies that was pretty pleasing.”
Herbert entered the week as one of the players to watch following his breakthrough win on the European Tour last month when he claimed the Dubai Desert Classic, propelling him to a career-high ranking of 73 in the world.
He said he was relishing more attention in his return to Australia.
“Eyeballs on me is not necessarily a bad thing — it can be a good thing because everyone is supporting me,” he said.
“As someone who is top 100 in the world, you’re going to get more people out to the event and you’re going to create more interest in the field.
“I can’t look at it as a bad thing that there’s more people watching.”
Herbert started on the 10th and closed his front nine with birdies on 13 and 16.
He birdied 2, 5, and 9 coming home to book his place in the weekend groups.
“I thought I stayed reasonably patient and didn’t get too frustrated,” he said.
“There was a couple of shots through the middle that I lost my cool a little bit, but late in the round when I needed to make some good swings and hit some good putts, I had it there to be able to make those.” ...