Chalmers sets himself up for another upset

Greg “Snake” Chalmers is no stranger to upstaging star-studded Australian PGA fields.

And the under-the-radar West Australian lefty is conjuring another boilover at Royal Pines after shooting a four-under 68 in yesterday’s first round.

Chalmers (pictured) has won the Kirkwood Cup twice – in 2011 and 2014.

In 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Coolum, he triumphed over a field that contained Adam Scott, Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Greg Norman fresh from the Presidents Cup.

In 2014 he pipped Scott again in a three-way playoff that extended to seven holes at Royal Pines.

Starting on the 10th hole yesterday, Chalmers struck the ball well with no reward until he reeled off four birdies in the last five holes to move into a share of second place.

A pinpoint accurate iron into the par-three fifth set up a birdie and got his morning round moving.

Not the biggest hitter in the field, Chalmers said the soft fairways made Royal Pines play much longer than normal, a view shared by Scott.

Chalmers has missed the cut in four of his past six tournaments in the US and Australia.

While coming back to a course where he had won in the past was “always handy”, he said past heroics counted for only so much.

“Coming back to Australia is really a pleasure. I’m more relaxed and sometimes that has helped to get good results. We’ll come out tomorrow afternoon and see what we can do,’’ he said.

“Right now, that (record of wins in 2011 and 2014) doesn’t matter so much. There’s a long way to go to get to that point.”