BATHURST professional golfers Nathan King and Peter O’Malley took on the opening round of the NSW PGA Championship with different experiences to share at the end of 18 holes.

After splitting his birdies and bogeys evenly, King ended his round at the Riverside Oaks Golf Resort on an even 71 par, while O’Malley didn’t fare as well with a two over 73.

In his first round of golf this year for the Australian PGA Tour, King looked composed.

He struck early trouble with a bogey on the third before hitting back later in his front nine.

King took full advantage of what had statistically been one of the easier holes for the day, the par five ninth, where he found his first birdie of the day to get himself back up to even par.

After a quiet run through the next five holes with pars, he got under par for the first time yesterday with a birdie on the 15th.

That lasted until the penultimate hole where a bogey left him sitting even at the conclusion of his opening round.

His score put him on the cusp of the top 50, with the final group of golfers coming through yesterday afternoon.

O’Malley was heading for a similar steady opening to his championship before some late wobbles sent him into the back half of the leader board.

Teeing off from the 10th hole, he played himself into his round well with seven straight pars before exchanging a bogey and birdie to come out even from his opening nine.

Holes two and three delivered back-to-back bogeys before another dropped shot on the eighth sent him briefly outside the top 100.

At three over heading to the ninth, just like King, O’Malley made sure he grabbed a birdie, like much of the field before him, to at least finish on a positive note.

It was a disappointing round for O’Malley who came into the championship on the back of one of his stronger rounds in recent times at the Australian Open.

Recent Bathurst Open winner and Orange golfer Andy Campbell was also in action at the championships.

After an up and down opening nine holes, late yesterday afternoon he sat at even par.

Lincoln Tighe leads the way after the opening round with his dominant eight under round of 63 leaving him two shots clear of a chasing bunch.