NEW ZEALAND OPEN: Australia's Steven Bowditch, who almost quit the game last year, showed it was the right decision to play on by taking a one-shot lead after a day of low scoring in the New Zealand Open.
Bowditch carded an eight-under-par 64 at Gulf Harbour as 116 of the 156-strong field broke par in perfect conditions.
Scotland's Alastair Forsyth, the Swedish trio of Niclas Fasth, Christopher Hanell and Joakim Haeggman, and Australian Simon Nash all recorded opening rounds of 65 to share second place, with 10 more players a shot further back.
Damien McGrane led the Irish challenge with an opening round of five-under-par 67 with Peter Lawrie on four-under-par 68. But Gary Murphy has some work to do after a one-over-par 73.
Lawrie, in fact, was the early leader after covering the first six holes in five under par with the help of an eagle three at the sixth. However, the back nine was not as rewarding with dropped shots at the 10th and 14th to just one birdie at the 11th. McGrane dropped just one shot, at the seventh, in halves of 33 and 34.
Australia's Craig Parry, who won the Heineken Classic in Melbourne last week, remained in contention for back-to-back victories after an opening 68, while the man he beat in a play-off, left-hander Nick O'Hern, carded a 70.
Local favourite Michael Campbell was one of the few to miss out on the glut of birdies, the Kiwi struggling to a one-over-par 73.
Surprise leader Bowditch was on the verge of quitting the game last July after making just one cut in eight events on the European Challenge Tour.
The 21-year-old, who finished seventh as a 17-year-old amateur in the Australian Open in 2000, returned home to work in the pro shop at Kooralbyn Resort before being persuaded by family and friends to return to professional golf.
NSW AMATEUR: Darren Crowe is the only Irish survivor after the second round of the NSW Amateur Matchplay Championship at Elanora Country Club.
On a day of shocks, Crowe, from Dunmurry GC, survived to the third round with a comfortable 5 and 4 win over Grant Scott. But number two seed Seán McTernan of Co Sligo went down by one hole to Rohan Blizard, who also beat Brendan McCarroll in the first round.
The major surprise of the round was the defeat of Walker Cup veteran and number one seed Gary Wolstenholme by 18-year-old Do-Hyung Kim from Liverpool Golf Club.
Do Hyung got off to a fast start and opened up a three-hole advantage after just nine holes of the 36-hole match. Despite his experience Wolstenholme could not bridge the gap and eventually went down 5 and 3.
