Anstiss two off lead after first round
QUEENSTOWN golfer James Anstiss has made a great start at the Vic Open in Melbourne.
Anstiss hit an 8under64 on the beach course yesterday be to tied for second place after the opening round, two shots behind leader Nic Flanagan.
Anstiss hit six birdies on the back nine as he got hot and is the leading New Zealander. He did not drop a shot.
Fellow Kiwis Ryan Fox and Michael Long both fired 66.
Australian James Nitties, one of six players on 64, made nine successive birdies yesterday to match Mark Calcavecchia’s 10yearold record.
Starting from the 10th hole, Melbourne man Nitties made his remarkable run from the par4 15th through to the parfive fifth at the European Tour cosanctioned event.
The 36yearold’s streak set a European Tour record while equalling former British Open winner Calcavecchia’s PGA Tour mark set in the second round of the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in 2009.
A par on the par4 sixth ended his bid to move past Calcavecchia but the
Australian had few regrets.
‘‘I don’t hold any other world records that I know of so to be a part of one is pretty cool,’’ Nitties said.
‘‘I had a good chance for that 10th birdie but I didn’t want to break it.
‘‘It’s such a longstanding record and I wouldn’t do that to Mark . . . It’s good to hold it with him.’’
Austrian Bernd Wiesberger roled in nine successive birdies at the 2017 Maybank Championship in Malaysia, a European Tour cosanctioned event, but his haul was not officially recognised as a record because the round was played with preferred lies.
Nitties’ blitz was the highlight of a day of low scoring. His housemate, Flanagan, who won the US Amateur championship in 2003, roared home with three birdies and his second eagle on the par5 seventh in his last five holes.
The Vic Open is also the second stop on the LPGA circuit, the 36hole 13th Beach links running the men’s and women’s events concurrently.
England’s Felicity Johnson carded a flawless 8under 65 for a twoshot lead over the secondplaced trio of Canadian AnneCatherine Tanguay, American Kim Kaufman and local hope Su Oh.