FUN AND GAMES FOR LUCAS
KEEPING things fresh and fun – that’s how young gun Lucas Herbert plans to move on from a forgettable 2019 campaign on the European golf tour. And it seems to be working. The Victorian took a share of the lead in the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast yesterday.
VICTORIAN young gun Lucas Herbert surged to the top of the leaderboard on the first day of the Australian PGA on the Gold Coast.
With defending champion Cameron Smith (74) struggling around Royal Pines, Herbert, 24, reeled off an eagle, six birdies and three bogeys for a fiveunder 67.
He shared the top of the leaderboard with Brett Rankin as a cast of thousands lurked with intent at four-under and three-under.
Herbert reached a careerhigh world ranking of 73 when he finished seventh at the Dubai Desert Classic in January. After missing the cut at the Australian Open this month, he slid to No.195.
In 21 tournament appearances this year before the PGA, he had two top-10 finishes to go with eight missed cuts.
To add injury to insult, he damaged ligaments in his right wrist two months ago.
“Usually I set little targets for myself to get through numbers-wise, but I really didn’t today,” said Herbert, who was four-under after three holes having started with two birdies and an eagle.
“I just let everything go and just enjoyed being out there. The course is in great shape, so I was just enjoying some nice weather, walking around a great golf course with one of my best mates on the bag.
“That was more consuming my mind rather than my score.
“It was all just solid, I didn’t really throw any shots away with any silly doubles or anything like that.
“If I stop throwing stupid shots away, I tend to go all right.
“I don’t think my scheduling was too good (in 2019) and I was away for two 10-week trips, which is not much fun, especially at the time of life I was in,” Herbert said.
“I’m going to try to have bigger breaks in between events … you can’t just be golf, golf, golf 24/7, you’ve actually got to concentrate when you need to and you’ve got to switch off when you need to.”