Smail in three-way tie at Michael Hill New Zealand Open

Two whirlwind finishes late in the day by Australian Andrew Dodt and American Robert Gates has resulted in a three-way tie with New Zealander David Smail at seven under at the Michael Hill New Zealand Open in Queenstown this afternoon.

Playing in two of the last groups of the day, Gates, who started his round with an eagle, finished with three consecutive birdies while Dodt was even more impressive with birdies on his last four holes. 

Conditions were nearly perfect throughout round one, with only a slight breeze offering any challenge as evidenced by the fact more than half the field were under par.

New Zealander David Smail backed up a superb putting performance with precision accuracy from both tee and fairway in his 65. Smail hit 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens on his way to a seven under 67 in the $US600,000 Nationwide co-sanctioned event. 

Professing to have no confidence in his game leading into the tournament, Smail started with consecutive birdies on the 10th and 11th, rattled off two more over the back nine to turn in 32.

“After those two birdies I certainly got my confidence back. I’m still not 100% happy with the way I hit it today, but I putted superbly. Even the putts I missed were right on the line I wanted to hit them. It’s almost a year since I have putted that well.”  

Smail took 27 putts and apart from a good up-and-down from the deep green-side bunker on 18 and a topped three wood on the first, was seldom in trouble.

Normally a slow starter, Smail was delighted both with the way he started the round and also the fact he had shot such a low round at the beginning of the tournament.

“It’s good to be able to jump out of the gates so quickly.”

Gates, 24, was playing his first Nationwide Tour event after qualifying through three stages last year. He said he learnt a lot from that experience and he put it to good use today, an eagle at the par-5 first after a 7-iron to three feet being an ideal start.

He mixed four birdies with two bogeys over the next 14 holes before charging up the leaderboard with birdies at 16, 17 and 18. He almost holed in one on the par-3 16th, finishing six inches away, before two-putting the par-5 17th and ramming hole a 30-foot putt at the last.

`Being my first event I tried to stay calm beforehand and the eagle was a nice way to get going. I was picking the targets and getting the yardage right,’’ said Gates, a graduate from Texas A and M University.

Gates played the Canadian Tour in 2009 where he made the cut in eight of his 10 starts with his best finish being third in the Costa Rica Classic. His one start on the US PGA Tour resulted in a share of 47th at the 2009 Valero Texas Open. 

Dodt, a beaten finalist in the 2005 New Zealand amateur championship, felt that it was his mental strength that was a feature of his game today.

“I started practising three weeks ago but have not been hitting the ball all that well, but I sunk some great putts and was mentally strong.”  His four birdie run at the end of his round included putts from six feet, five feet, 20 feet and 10 feet.

Fifteenth on the Asian Order of Merit in 2009, Dodt had top 10 finishes at the Singapore Open and at Macau.

One shot behind Smail and Gates are American D J Brigman and Australian Andrew Bonhomme. Brigman, who warmed for the event by going hang-gliding, took a while to get his equilibrium back, bogeying his second hole, the 11th, before two birdies had him turning in 35. He then reeled off five birdies in seven holes on the front nine for a 66.

`We had a really good group – David Smail played really well and we had momentum going as a group and carried it through the round. I don’t know what our best-ball would have been but I think we birdied every hole.
 
`I went hang-gliding yesterday hoping that would free me and up and take a bit of fear out of me. I putted fearlessly today, rolled it extremely well, and made a ton of putts. The greens are rolling well, they’re not super-fast so you can be aggressive.’’
 
 Bonhomme, who tied for sixth in the New Zealand PGA Championship at Clearwater last Sunday, continued his good form at The Hills, firing a flawless 66 with three birdies on each half.
 
He tied for fourth at The Hills last year and said it was course he enjoyed. He was three-under after 12 than had three straight birdies, two-putting the par-5 13th, holing an 8-footer at 14 and a 6-footer at 15.
 
Bonhomme has played the Nationwide Tour for the last two years but both times suffered injuries – a wrist in 2008 and tennis elbow in 2009 – that handicapped him. Unless he wins in the next fortnight he intends playing the burgeoning One-Asia Tour this year.

There are a group of eight players on 68. Behind Smail, the best of the New Zealanders were Josh Geary and Phil Tataurangi (69) followed by Steve Alker and Grant Waite (70) and Mahal Pearce, Doug Batty and Bradley Iles.