Lawson’s luck buried in Royal Pines sand
A PIECE of bunker netting brought what could have been a defining opening round undone for Deyen Lawson who must now try to find a way to keep his Australian PGA Championship hopes alive.
Lawson has spent 2017 living on the Gold Coast with partner, fellow player and caddie Ali Orchard, and was in position to lay the foundations for a solid crack at the Kirkwood Cup at Royal Pines yesterday.
The 26-year-old sat at three-under par after three straight birdies between holes nine, 10 and 11 before a triple bogey on the 411m par-4 13th unravelled his good work.
Then bogeys on the last two holes left him at one-over 73 and in a tie for 88th place.
“I hit a good shot in at 13 and ended up horribly in the bunker,” Lawson said.
“The netting in the bunker actually came up and nearly broke my wrist. I made a seven and battled to get home.
“The ball knifed into the lip and it came back and plugged. It was a pretty disappointing day with how I played but that’s golf.
“It’s been very frustrating.” Lawson conceded he had struggled over the past month in appearances at the Queensland Open (tied 41st), NSW Open (tied 47th) and Australian Open (tied 52nd).
But the Victorian product said he felt he was finally getting his game into shape in the early stages yesterday and was confident a solid second round today would put him back in the hunt.
“Take those couple of soft bogeys out of the equation and I was going OK,” Lawson said.
“I’ll have a good think about it and play a good one (today) and get back into contention.”
Lawson has a full China Tour card for next year as well as a PGA of Australasia card. He is also considering going to Asian qualifying school at the year.
Lawson has made the Gold Coast his home in recent times where Orchard’s family, who own the Surfers Paradise pro shop, are based.
“I’ve been doing some practice there whenever I’m back – it’s been quite good,” he said.
Lakelands golfer Michael Sim finished the opening round with a two-under par 70 to keep his hopes of securing a card outside of the Australasia tour alive.
Sim dropped a shot on the par-5 ninth and par-4 17th in an otherwise solid round. start of next