MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Lucas Herbert shot an 8-under 63 Thursday at a soggy Victoria Golf Club, including an eagle on his last hole, to take the first-round lead at the Australian Open, with fellow Australian and 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith two strokes behind.
The Australian Open and Women’s Australian Open are being held concurrently — using alternating tee times — and with level prize money for the second consecutive year at two Melbourne sand-belt courses, the par-72 Kingston Heath (par-73 for the Women's Open) and par-71 Victoria.
Japanese amateur Rintaro Nakano and American Ryggs Johnston shot 65s at Kingston Heath and were tied for second, with Smith tied for fourth after his 65, including six birdies in a row, at Victoria in the men's event which is co-sanctioned with the European Tour.
Pumps worked well into the morning to clear lakes of water left by another overnight Melbourne rainstorm, and preferred lies were in play.
Herbert said it was “sacrilegious” that players could spin their balls back to flags on greens used to being “concrete” on the famed sand belt in southeast Melbourne.
“It’s great condition-wise, it’s just soft and slow, which I know they wouldn’t want here,” he said. "It's probably sacrilegious to come to the sand belt and try and land it past the hole, it’s just not the way these courses are designed to be played.”
Conditions are unlikely to change from a hardness perspective, with more rain forecast for Saturday.
Smith said he may need a score of about 20-under par to win his first Australian Open.
“The course is definitely gettable,” Smith said. “I mean, there’s the greens are soft, and there wasn’t much wind out there this morning. So a lot of those par fives played really quite short . . . if it stays like this, it’ll probably be close to 20-under (to win) if there’s no wind, which is crazy.”
Elvis Smylie, who won last week’s Australian PGA championship at Royal Queensland, where Smith finished second, shot 70 Thursday at Victoria.
Australian Su Oh and South Korean amateur Hyojin Yang were tied for the Women's Australian Open lead at 7-under. Oh had a 66 at Kingston Heath and Yang a 65 at Victoria.
Hannah Green had a 67 at Kingston Heath and was in third place.
After the respective cuts are made, play on Saturday and Sunday will be only at Kingston Heath, site of the 2028 Presidents Cup.
LPGA Tour regular Minjee Lee shot 74 at Victoria while her brother, PGA Tour player Min Woo Lee, had a 71 at Kingston Heath.
Defending champions Joaquin Niemann and Ashleigh Buhai both shot 73s at Kingston Heath.
Wenyi Ding, who gave up his spot in the Masters from winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur and is playing as a European Tour rookie, shot 71 at Kingston Heath and was tied for 35th.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Joaquin Niemann of Chile plays a second shot on the 7th hole during the second round of World Tour Golf Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
SEATTLE (AP) — John Gibson made a season-high 42 saves and Alex Killorn scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the second period as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Killorn, Cutter Gauthier and Trevor Zegras each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who had dropped eight straight against Seattle. They rebounded from a 3-2 loss to the Kraken at home Monday night.
Frank Vatrano and Brett Leason scored in the first period for Anaheim.
Seattle erased the 2-0 deficit on goals from Eeli Tolvanen at 16:34 of the first and Oliver Bjorkstrand at 8:58 of the second. Joey Daccord stopped 28 shots.
Killorn put the Ducks ahead for good with a wrist shot at 10:02 of the second after Mason McTavish got the puck along the boards and Zegras found an open Killorn.
Gauthier made it 4-2 with a power-play goal at 19:23, and Killorn assisted on Zegras' goal at 13:55 of the third.
Ducks: Gibson stopped a short-handed breakaway in the third period and improved to 4-0 this season.
Kraken: Seattle had trouble connecting on passes in the offensive zone.
After the Kraken tied it 2-all, the Ducks won the ensuing faceoff and began dominating possession again until Killorn scored the go-ahead goal 64 seconds later.
Anaheim finished with a 34-21 advantage in hits during a game that got chippy late.
Anaheim returns home for a Friday matinee against the Los Angeles Kings.
Seattle begins a home-and-home against the Sharks on Friday afternoon in San Jose.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen is congratulated by teammates on the bench after scoring a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Brett Leason, right, scores a goal on a shot against Seattle Kraken defenseman Joshua Mahura during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome, right, defenseman Jackson LaCombe, second from right, forward Frank Vatrano, second from left, and defenseman Olen Zellweger celebrate a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Brett Leason, right, shoots the puck against Seattle Kraken goalie Joey Daccord during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks, from left, defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, forward Mason McTavish and forward Alex Killorn celebrate a gold during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Sam Colangelo, left, passes the puck against Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Brett Leason, center, is congratulated by forward Isac Lundestrom, left, and forward Cutter Gauthier after scoring a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Seattle Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky takes a shot against Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas, left, and Seattle Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen battle for puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Players from the Seattle Kraken and Anaheim Ducks scuffle during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. The Ducks won 5-2. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Frank Vatrano (77) and forward Andre Burakovsky battle for puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier is congratulated by teammates on the bench after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Anaheim Ducks, from left, forward Alex Killorn, forward Trevor Zegras, forward Mason McTavish and defenseman Olen Zellweger celebrates during an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. The Ducks won 5-2. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Seattle Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz, left, collides with Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
