HE went into the tournament hoping he could end his drought at the big three Australian events on the annual calendar, but Bathurst’s Peter O’Malley will have to produce a big form reversal at the Australian Masters today.
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O’Malley will start his second round on the front nine this morning, needing to pull back major ground after shooting a five-over 77 to have him sitting just outside the top 100 after round one.
The right-hander was in a share of 103rd late in the afternoon with a handful of players still to complete their round, and at that stage only 34 out of 126 had managed par or better.
As such, he can take some comfort from the fact that many of his rivals had similar struggles around The Metropolitan lay-out.
But aside from an opening eight holes where he maintained a relative level of consistency with seven pars and just the one bogey, there wasn’t a lot to be positive about.
O’Malley’s score had him sitting 10 shots behind a group of four players, including Michael Wright and Stephen Allan who were in the clubhouse safely with scores of 67.
Steven Bowditch and Bronson La’Cassie were still on the course mid-way through their second nine and were also at five-under.
An eagle late in his round allowed former US Masters champion and tournament favourite Adam Scott to claw back some ground as he signed for a one-over 73.
For O’Malley, the day was a constant struggle, and although a late birdie allowed him to salvage something, it was quickly made redundant as he had his sixth bogey of the day on the ninth.
He began well enough, carding three straight pars at a stage of the day where many of the field, including playing partner Scott Laycock, were struggling right from the moment they teed off.
A dropped shot at the par three fourth didn’t seem to concern him too much as he steadied with a run of four more pars to sit at one-over approaching the 18th – or his ninth, having teed off on the back nine.
A bogey on that par four started a poor run that threatened to end his week as quickly as it began. After making the turn, he gave up another shot at the par four first, and he slipped further at the fourth when he took six on the par five.
His deficit to the leaders reached double-figures when he dropped another shot on the par three seventh.
Finally something went right, thanks to a good approach and putt at the eighth to get back to four-over, but he couldn’t make it back to the clubhouse safely.
