Scotland’s Connor Syme superbly drew on past ‘Down Under’ winning memories to produce a super mid-round birdie blitz in a score of five-under 66 and be just three shots from the lead after the opening round of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane.
Syme, 28, was off from the 10th hole on the host Royal Queensland host course and somewhat struggling to be one-over through eight holes before jumping on the birdie train with five in succession from the 10th hole that included four ‘3s’ from the par-4 18th on the card.
And Syme made it six birdies in seven holes with a birdie ‘3’ on the par-4 sixth and the 15th hole of his round on route to end the round in a six-way tie for fourth, and joined by the likes of former 11-year-old Royal Queensland member Adam Scott and fellow Aussie Lucas Herbert.
EXCLUSIVE ….
🏴 Connor Syme @connor_syme @modestgolf @DrumoigGC draws on fond 🇦🇺 Amateur 🏆memories to be just 3⃣ shots off the lead @Fortinet #AusPGA @RQGOLF 👏💪
Read: https://t.co/Uhy6ZKoz0l
✅ @TOURMISS @Record_Sport (Bernie) pic.twitter.com/31PF0cNNDp
— Golf & Science News (@TOURMISS) November 23, 2023
“My day definitely came to light on the 18th”, said Syme.
“I made a kind of sloppy bogey on the party hole (Par-3 17th) unfortunately and managed to roll five birdies in a row off after that, which was great and really turned my round around. So yeah, it was good fun. It was good fun”.
Syme will always have fond memories of Australia when as a 20-year-old he captured the 2016 Australian Amateur Championship after a hard-fought 3&2 success against Aussie Travis Smyth in the 36-hole final in Melbourne.
After Syme had reached the last-16 at the Metropolitan GC he took early early in the final with three birdies in the opening six holes and battled hard to emulate the feats of countrymen Jack Doherty (2003) and Eric Ramsay (2005) by triumphing Down Under.
Syme arrived in Australia with great credentials having been a member of the Scotland team winning European Amateur in 2015 and was a semi-finalist at The Amateur Championship in 2014, and he clearly found the hot and breezy conditions to his liking in Australia as he emerged victorious from a starting field of 234 leading amateur players.
He travelled home to Scotland and early 2017 won the famed Battle Trophy at Crail Golfing Society.
Connor Syme wins the 2016 Australian Amateur title (Photo – Golf Australia)
“Winning the Australian Amateur was a significant milestone in my career”, he recalled.
“I was 20-years old and the opportunity to get around and travel, that was like, Am I going to want to do this for a living and obviously getting to do that with Scottish Golf was awesome to come down and play.
“Winning on an international stage was something I always wanted to do and to do it down here was absolutely brilliant.
“So, the win definitely gave me a lot of confidence and belief and kind of pushed my progression on, for sure.
“Looking back, I remember that. It was like baking hot. It was the first time I’ve been called off the course for heat and then the next day I was in a waterproof jacket. It’s just bizarre.
“So, it’s awesome to be back. It’s been a long season for us, for sure, but I feel pretty good and I’m looking forward to these next two weeks.
“Absolutely loving being back down here. Yeah, we’ll see what happens”.
Spaniard Joel Moscatel leads the way by a shot in signing for an eight-under 63 that included also five birdies in succession from his 12th hole to match the Royal Queensland course record.
Hot on his tail is Aussie Min Woo Lee and with the present World No. 45 grabbing a seven-under 64.
