Brandt Snedeker shoots 84 in opening round of Australian PGA
GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) Brandt Snedeker, the top-ranked player at the Australian PGA championship, shot a 12-over-par 84 in the opening round Thursday.
Snedeker, ranked 38th and one of only three players in the top 100 at Royal Pines this week, was 7-over after five holes. Starting on the back nine, he had two bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey to start and made the turn in 9-over 45.
On his last nine, the American golfer had four bogeys and his only birdie of the day, on the par-4 sixth.
The course played tough early with rain showers and strong, gusting winds.
''It was just a horrible day,'' Snedeker said. ''There is nothing else to say. I wish I could put a spin on it. I think the conditions obviously played a part in it. But I think it was way more execution than it was conditions. When you're not firing on all cylinders and the wind is blowing the way it did out here, your mistakes are going to be exacerbated. Mine were.''
Snedeker was 17 strokes behind first-round leader Zander Lombard of South Africa, who shot 67 to lead by two strokes from England's Mark Foster in the co-sanctioned Australian and European Tour event.
