Mark Brown takes the first round lead in the New Zealand PGA Pro-Am Championship – Golf News
New Zealand’s Mark Brown shot a six-under par 66 in the opening round of the New Zealand PGA Pro-Am Championship to take a one-stroke lead over three Australians, Andrew Martin, Adam Crawford and Tim Wood on Thursday, March 29, 2012.
Brown had a disappointing start to his campaign in Arrowtown, where he went one-over par after carding a bogey on the par-five 13th hole.
However, he bounced back strongly with a birdie on the very next hole and three consecutive birdies starting from the 16th hole.
Moreover, he had a better start to his back nine (Course’s front nine) with a spectacular eagle on the par-five first hole.
A birdie on the final hole took him to the lead early in the round, which no other player on the field managed to match on the leaderboard.
According to Brown, a delay in the round due to fog had a negative impact on his performance early in the round.
However, he adjusted to the conditions later and set a benchmark for his competitors.
"Once the jumpers came off and you started to warm up it was magnificent but early on the ball wasn't going very far through the air so you had to judge that a little bit," said Brown, who is making his first appearance in New Zealand since 2007.
He has been playing on the European Tour for the last five years and the hectic schedule of 36 events each year kept him out of the tournament scheduled in New Zealand.
"I'm actually looking forward to playing less, with a bit more time off to do some fitness stuff," he said.
“The body's in pretty bad shape. Obviously losing your card in Europe's not ideal but I've looked at it as a positive. I can spend some time at home and get fit and do some meaningful practise”.
He added by saying that he is happy to get back on the PGA Tour of Australasia and is playing in front of his friends and family.
According to him, he missed playing in New Zealand and is really happy to be back at home.
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