Davis soars, Day lurks & Spieth falters in Australia
Chawrasia grabs Hong Kong lead
SYDNEY, Nov 23, (RTRS): Young local Cameron Davis upstaged Jordan Spieth and Jason Day by shooting an eight-under-par 63 in benign morning conditions for a two-shot lead after the first round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Day, playing his home Open for the first time since 2013, also had an early start and carded a five-under 66 for a share of third, but defending champion Spieth struggled to a one-under 70 in the afternoon wind.
Davis, 22, could hardly have made a better start to the day under bright blue skies at The Australian Golf Course with six birdies in his first seven holes, including a chip-in at the seventh.
Former world number one Day appeared likely to follow suit when he hammered his tee shot to two feet at his second hole and sank a sixfoot putt to pick up a second birdie at his third.
Two more birdies and a bogey had him at the top of the leaderboard at the turn and he picked up three more shots before, with the wind starting to pick up, finding the trees off the tee and double-bogeying his penultimate hole.
The 30-year-old, ranked 12th in the world and still seeking his first win of the year, rebounded by steering home a six-foot putt at the last before heading off to rest up for his second round on Friday afternoon.
“I think it would have been a little bit disappointing if I came out this morning and shot an even-par round,” he told reporters.
Spieth, coming off a seven week layoff since the President’s Cup, discovered exactly what Day was talking about as he wrestled with the wind throughout his round, every birdie step forward countered by a bogey step back.
The world number two, who also won the Stonehaven Cup in 2014, gave
Spieth
Belgium will be led by seventhranked David Goffin, who showed his form by beating Roger Federer to reach the final in London last week. Barring a major surprise, the other Belgian singles player will be Steve Darcis. But who will partner Ruben Bemelmans (118) in the doubles?
Joris de Loore (276) missed the last match against Australia because of a knee operation. Van Herck has named him in the squad but has kept open the option of retaining Arthur de Greef (181).
The Belgians are trying to win their first Davis Cup title. They reached the final in 2015 but lost to a Britain team containing Andy Murray. They had to work hard to return this time.
France are trying to win their tenth silver salad bowl. They had an easy route to their first final since losing to Federer, Stan Wawrinka and the Swiss in 2014. Belgium were taken to the third day in all of their matches.
They won 4-1 in Germany in the first round despite resting Goffin, although he returned for the quarterfinal victory over an Italy team that was without Fabio Fognini.
Noah, who was captain in 1991-92 and 1995-98 says he is “improved” for his third stint, which began in 2015. Asked whether he would continue, he added another layer of mystery, saying: “I have no certainty about anything.”
Final Draw
Friday (16:00 local) Lucas Pouille (FRA) vs David Goffin (BEL)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs Steve Darcis (BEL) Saturday (16:00 local) Richard GAsquet/Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) vs Ruben Bemelmans/ Joris de Loore (BEL) Sunday (15:00 local) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs David Goffin (BEL)
Lucas Pouille (FRA) vs Steve Darcis (BEL)