"Golf gods take winner back to wilderness"HUNTINGDALE yielded to some of the world's best professional golfers in benign conditions yesterday, but the course inflicted just a little pain. Or, in the case of rookie Victorian professional Jon Abbott, a great deal of agony.
Abbott began his day with a birdie at the par-five 10th and rolled in a long birdie putt at the ninth hole, his last. But in between, he walked into the sort of nightmare that every golfer has witnessed.
Abbott carded a 96, 24 over par, to be 32 shots off the lead on the opening day of the $1.5 million Australian Masters. He took a 10 on the par-five seventh and a nine on the par-five 14th, finishing with only two pars.
Shattered afterwards, he signed for a 95 when his score added up to 96, and exposed himself to the possibility of disqualification under golf's rules. The scorers amended his card upward by a shot and chose to let the error pass, a tour official explaining that a player who makes an arithmetical error on his card is not subjected to penalty so long as the scores for individual holes are correct.
Abbott is no hacker. He was a member of the Victorian amateur team last year and, having turned professional, won the Vanuatu Open at Port Vila in July, pocketing $40,000 in prizemoney. He was also fourth in the West Australian PGA Championship and made the cut at the Queensland Open.
"I've just lost it," he said of his game. "First year out (of amateurs) I've had a pretty good year."
Asked when he lost his swing, he said: "Two days ago. I don't want to hit the ball. It's pretty much going right, every shot."
Coached by Richard Cooney, Abbott knew before the tournament he was in trouble. Asked whether he would head to the driving range, he said: "(I'll) hang the boots up maybe. I don't reckon I've ever shot 95 before. It just went."
