Michael Hoey continued his good recent form in Australia with a first round 68 for four under par at the ISPS Handa World Super 6 in Perth, a day after celebrating his 40th birthday.
The round leaves Hoey tied-fifth and three off the lead held by Miguel Tabuena and Kristoffer Reitan at Lake Karrinyup, but crucially he is inside the top-24 who will advance to Sunday’s matchplay phase.
The tournament takes on a regular strokeplay format for the opening two days with the cut coming on Friday for the top-65 and ties before a further cut is made on Saturday evening for the top-24 players. If there are ties a playoff will be held to narrow the field down with those 24 then heading into the matchplay stage.
The top-eight will advance directly to the second round while the other 16 will begin the knockout matchplay stages which will be played over six holes until a winner is determined.
Both Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan will have work to do to make those knockout stages after disappointing first rounds. For Dunne an opening round of 73, made up of three bogeys and two pars, leaves him one over par and tied for 81st while Moynihan is a shot further back after a double bogey at the 16th saw him sign for a 74.
There were no such troubles for Hoey who carded consecutive birdies at the 13th, 14th and 15th to help towards his 68. The five-time European Tour winner – making just his fourth appearance on the circuit this season – comes into this week off the back of a tied-17th place finish at the Handa Vic Open last week which could have been better were it not for a 75 in the third round.
At the top of the leaderboard, Norway’s Reitan and Tabuena of the Philippines carded opening rounds of 65 to get to seven under.
After starting from the 10th at Lake Karrinyup in Perth, Tabuena birdied his first seven holes and picked up another shot on the 18th to race to the turn in just 28 shots.
The 24-year-old also birdied the first but could not maintain such a blistering pace and dropped shots on the fifth and ninth to finish seven under par alongside Reitan, who carded eight birdies and a bogey.
“My alarm was 3:30 in the morning, but it paid off and I’m pretty happy with my position,” Tabuena said. “I love coming to Perth and it feels like home. The weather’s similar, the courses are similar, and it’s great to be back.
“I tried to keep it (his score) in the back of my head but it caught up to me on the third and fourth hole. I started to force some stuff, which I shouldn’t have, and it cost me.”
Reitan came through all three stages of the European Tour’s qualifying school as an amateur last year. The world number 1,890 is playing just his fifth event since turning professional.
The 20-year-old said: “Last year I qualified for the US Open and qualified for the European Tour through Q-School, so it’s something maybe with the qualifying mindset that I enjoy. I hope it can work to my advantage this week.
“Even if I play really bad I’m trying to learn something, and if I play well, it might be because I’ve learned something. So, I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from every tournament and try to unlock my best golf.”
England’s Richard McEvoy and New Zealand’s Benjamin Campbell lie two shots off the lead in the innovative event, which features 54 holes of traditional strokeplay before the top 24 players compete in a six-hole knockout match-play format on Sunday.
Collated first round scores in the European Tour ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth, Lake Karrinyup CC, Perth, Australia (British unless stated, par 72):
65 Miguel Tabuena (Phl), Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
67 Ben Campbell (Nzl), Richard McEvoy
68 Anton Karlsson (Swe), S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Brad Kennedy (Aus), Nick Flanagan (Aus), Michael Hoey (NIrl)
69 Deyen Lawson (Aus), Matt Jager (Aus), Daniel Gale (Aus), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Matthew Griffin (Aus)
70 David Law, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Andrew Martin (Aus), James Nitties (Aus), Jason Scrivener (Aus), Prom Meesawat (Tha), Robert Macintyre, Adrian Otaegui (Spa), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Jordan Zunic (Aus), Panuphol Pittayarat (Tha), Anthony Quayle (Aus), Steven Jeffress (Aus), Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Yi-Keun Chang (Kor), Jeunghun Wang (Kor), Scott Vincent (Zim), Thomas Pieters (Bel), Min Woo Lee (Aus), Danthai Boonma (Tha)
71 Justin Harding (Rsa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Berry Henson (USA), Michael Wright (Aus), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Harrison Endycott (Aus), Per Langfors (Swe), Austin Connelly (Can), Clement Sordet (Fra), Callum Shinkwin, Mark Brown (Nzl), Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind), Liam Johnston, Tom Murray, Jake McLeod (Aus), David Bransdon (Aus), Bernd Ritthammer (Ger), Ryan Chisnall (Nzl)
72 Sihwan Kim (Kor), Ben Evans, Shih-Chang Chan (Tpe), Adilson Da Silva (Bra), Callan O’Reilly (Aus), Simon Hawkes (Aus), Nick O’Hern (Aus), Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor), Zach Murray (Aus), Austen Truslow (USA), Darren Beck (Aus), Espen Kofstad (Nor), Guido Migliozzi (Spa), Cameron John (Aus), Nick Cullen (Aus), Peter Lonard (Aus), James Marchesani (USA), Robert Allenby (Aus), Daniel Nisbet (Aus), Micah Lauren Shin (USA), Max Orrin, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus)
73 Min Chel Choi (Kor), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Nick Voke (Aus), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Adam Bland (Aus), Paul Dunne (Irl), Wade Ormsby (Aus), S Chikkarangappa (Ind), Gavin Green (Mal), Hugo Leon (USA), Matthew Nixon, Aaron Pike (Aus), Tom Lewis, Richard Green (Aus), Pedro Figueiredo (Por), Christopher Wood (Aus), Daisuke Kataoka (Jpn), Scott Gregory, Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita), Daniel Fox (Aus), Jorge Campillo (Spa), Michael Hendry (Nzl), Kim Koivu (Fin), Damien Jordan (Aus), Nicholas Fung (Mal), Maverick Antcliff (Aus), Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Michael Long (Nzl), Max McCardle (Aus), Connor Syme, Johannes Veerman (USA), Peter Fowler (Aus), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Khalin Joshi (Ind), David Borda (Spa), Stuart Manley
74 Matthew Millar (Aus), Oliver Wilson, Grant Forrest, Viraj Madappa (Ind), Daniel Gavins, Hyo-won Park (Kor), Josh Younger (Aus), Scott Hend (Aus), Louis De Jager (Rsa), Cory Crawford (Aus), Kurt Kitayama (USA), Ben Eccles (Aus), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Ashley Chesters, Dylan Perry (Aus), Jin-ho Choi (Kor), Gavin Moynihan (Irl), Lucas Herbert (Aus), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn)
75 Ricardo Gouveia (Por), David Smail (Nzl), James Morrison, Jason Norris (Aus), Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Spa), Max Schmitt (Ger), Jack Wilson (Aus), Poom Saksansin (Tha), Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha), Peter O’Malley (Aus)
76 David Drysdale, Blake Proverbs (Aus), Matthew Stieger (Aus), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Joel Girrbach (Swi)
77 Richie Ramsay, Jarin Todd (USA), Niklas Lemke (Swe), Jarryd Felton (Aus), Ewan Ferguson
78 Malcolm Kokocinski (Swe), Rattanon Wannasrichan (Tha), Paul Peterson (USA)
