By Tony Webeck

A harsh lesson and a holed bunker shot for eagle has enabled rookie professional Nathan Barbieri to smash the course record and take a three-stroke lead midway through the opening round of The Players Series Hosted by Geoff Ogilvy at Rosebud Country Club.

On a PGA Tour of Australasia leaderboard boasting winners on the US PGA Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asian Tour and China Golf Tour within the first dozen, Barbieri’s scintillating 10-under 61 not only set a new personal best but obliterated Rosebud’s previous course record of 64.

Host Geoff Ogilvy is the closest challenger after opening the tournament bearing his name with a 7-under 64 alongside Matias Sanchez (through 16 holes) with a two-shot gap to Matthew Griffin and Aaron Pike at 5-under as the afternoon groups take to the course.

An eagle at the par-5 ninth – her final hole of the day – elevated LPGA of Japan Tour player Karis Davidson into a tie for 11th and the leading female player in the field in the innovative format that pits men and women directly against each other.

Male or female, no one could match the pace set by Barbieri as he began his round with three straight birdies and then holed his greenside bunker shot at the par-5 ninth to make the turn in just 29 strokes.

A week ago Barbieri was 5-under through his opening six holes at the Gippsland Super 6 tournament and admitted that counting birdies was a habit he made sure to break on Thursday.

“I definitely got ahead of myself last week,” Barbieri conceded. “Just counting the birdies I’d had and wondering what I was through the amount of holes.

“Every time I thought of that today I had to erase everything and tell myself to start again.

“It was near to perfect golf. Obviously starting well last week gave me a bit of confidence coming in. It was a good day.”

With winds gusting to more than 50km/h at times the Rosebud layout was by no means benign, Ogilvy surprised by his own score of 64 let alone Barbieri’s record-setting round up front.

“I didn’t see that out there. I didn’t see what I shot out there so 61... That’s a great score,” said Ogilvy, whose round consisted of eight birdies and a lone bogey at the par-3 seventh.

“I putted really well and made a lot of putts so he must have done the same.”

Ogilvy played alongside LPGA Tour player Su Oh in the opening round and although Oh finished her round at 2-over 73, the 2006 US Open champion and active course design enthusiast thought the course set-up was fair to both guys and girls.

“Obviously I was an interested observer as to where she was hitting hit relative to me and Elvis (Smylie) and it seemed about right,” Ogilvy added.

“It was a brutal day. She just had a few lip-outs, which happens. She played a few shots better than the score showed.

“As far as I can tell, to this point, I think the balance is pretty good.

“It was really, really windy, but they were smart in that they didn’t cut the greens and they didn’t roll the greens.

“We would have had issues if we’d had the greens a bit faster. But they played fine, it was all fair and it was there if you hit good shots.”

Karis Davidson suffered some bad breaks as she dropped three shots late in her round but climbed towards the top 10 courtesy of an eagle on her final hole, the par-5 ninth. Her 2-under 69 places her tied for 11th in her first four-round tournament in 12 months.

“I had a couple of little unlucky things happen a few holes before so it was nice to get rewarded on that last hole,” said Davidson, who made double bogey on five after her ball finished beside a tree root and a bogey on six when her approach shot hit the flag and ricocheted off the green.

“It was into the wind and I pumped driver right down the middle and had about 180 metres into the green, which would have been playing around 200 with the wind.

“I hit a 3-wood and it was just hunting the pin. It was a perfect shot and got up there and it was on the green.

“It was quite a tricky putt. It was downhill and I absolutely nailed it.

“I’m really pleased but it’s only round one so I’ve just got to keep my feet on the ground and focus on tomorrow.”