Strange cards a perfect 66 in the opening round at Coolum
Coolum’s Resort on Thursday witnessed a Strange affair. The West Australian, Scott Strange, shot a perfect 66 opening round score at the Australian PGA Championship.
He might as well have been on a pogo stick because that kind of putting and driving has blasted him well clear of the competition.
Scott Strange leads the tournament at the Sunshine Coast. If he can pull off emotionally charged performances like this one for the remainder of the tournament, there really will be no stopping him.
This may happen, because to Strange, the greens of Queensland are rank with emotion: he had lost a sister, Natalie, to cancer, as well as a mother a couple years earlier.
After the play here at the resort, he attended a dinner party, but the music that blared there took him to the memories of his deceased sibling.
"My sister's favourite song was Flame Trees," said Strange on Thursday, after the flawless first round. He could barely hold the tears. "As soon as he started singing it I had to get up and leave the table because I couldn't stop the tears".
"I lost my sister to cancer a few years ago and I've had a few other problems with my mum and dad," said Strange. "It took a while to process all that and it's even harder to deal with that stuff when you are a long way from home".
"I had a really good caddie and I took it out on him and did stuff you don't normally do and it just all becomes a blur".
With this great first round that has given him a significant lead on the remaining field, Strange can put things into perspective. This will, in all likelihood, be Coolum’s last tee off here at the Sunshine Coast, ending an 11-year era of much-loved laid-back
golf.
Most people came here at the end of a long season to let their hair down and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere.
Things took a turn for the worst after Clive Palmer, owner of Palmer Coolum Resort and the PGA Tour administration had a bit of a run in with the former’s ambush-marketing antics.
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