Visiting American Dustin Johnson shook off illness to muscle his way into contention on the opening day of the Perth International in Australia.
Johnson posted a three under par that included six birdies and half as many bogeys on the Lake Karrinyup course in the world’s most remote capital city.
It left the Ryder Cup star trailing just one stroke behind Sweden’s Peter Hedblom and Australian-based Korean Jin Jeong who shot four under par 68s to hold the clubhouse lead late on the first day of the co-sanctioned European and Australasian Tour event.
The 43-year old Hedblom is currently ranked a lowly 179th on the Race and Dubai and like many European Tour members is in Australia desperate to hold onto his Tour card
“I’m so far back I need a win or to finish second really,” said Hedblom, who missed seven of his first eight cuts this year.
“You have nothing to hold back; you just have to go for everything. You’re not happy to finish third or fourth or fifth or sixth or tenth, just play as good as you can.
“The tension is nothing really. Today it felt like any tournament – if I will be leading playing the last day, then maybe I’ll feel the tension, but right now it’s just one round out of four. It’s good to at least have a chance to do it.
“The game is there, you just need a little bit of confidence.”
Jeong is a former British Amateur champion with the Melbourne-based player waiting a long time to display the form that clinched him the title in 2005 at Muirfield.
Johnson arrived in Australia in not the best of health suffering a head cold but after a good night’s sleep, and despite a 4am wake-up call, the very affable champion quickly signalled his intentions.
“It was a pretty solid start with a couple of mistakes and missed a couple of short putts but other than that it was all pretty solid,” said Johnson.
“I wasn’t feeling that well on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but then I’m fine now as I have been getting a little bit better each day, so I am fine now.
“I went to bed early and got a good night’s sleep so that helped.”
