Anstiss better placed to go further
NEW Zealand golfer James Anstiss says he has the experience to make the most of his flying start to the Victorian Open.
The 23-year-old made the most of the morning conditions, firing a Beach Course record equalling eight-under 64 to sit two shots behind leader Nick Flanagan.
There was a sense of deja vu about Anstiss’s round with the Kiwi shooting eight-under on the Creek course in the opening round last year.
But things turned sour when he failed to make the cut going into the final round.
Anstiss said he was confident he was in a better position to handle the pressure that comes with being towards the top of the leaderboard.
“Last year I was a rookie out here, it was my first tournament over here. I hadn’t really been in that position,” he said.
“Twelve months down the track, I am a much better golfer. I have put myself in different situations over the last months and that has really prepared me for this now.
“There is still a long way to. (But) I am striking the ball fantastically, so if I can keep going out there and doing that, and hopefully a few more putts will drop, and I’ll be sweet.”
But first he will have to catch Flanagan who tore up the Creek Course, signing off on a 10-under round of 62.
The former PGA Tour player, who started on the back nine, was two-under after seven holes before he caught fire with an eagle on the parfive 17th.
He then made an eagle and five birdies on the front nine to put his name at the top of the leaderboard.
“You obviously never expect to kind of do what I did finishing because I had a bogey when I was at six under, go back to five, and then next thing you know, birdie, birdie, eagle and you’re at nine under,” Flanagan said. “The rest of it is history.” He revealed he was close to not teeing it up at Thirteenth Beach this week after tweaking his back on Sunday.
“(I) went and saw an osteo in Melbourne and was able to kind of work that out. (I) didn’t get a practice round until Tuesday afternoon and just played eight holes,” he said.
“The back’s felt really good the last two days, thankfully. But, yeah, I thought it was going to be one of those weeks where somehow the timing came out and my back went out, but it’s worked out well.”
Anstiss is joined by Kurt Kitayama, Hugo Leon, James Nitties, Jason Scrivener and Callum Shinkwin at eightunder on a log-jammed leaderboard.
“I got off to a pretty solid start, was a couple under at the turn and was striking it real nice,” Anstiss said.
“I just kept hitting it close on that back nine and had kick-in birdies basically, so that was really nice.”