Otago No1 Duncan Croudis has made a dream start to getting an Australasian PGA Tour card after shooting a 6-under-par 66 in the first round of stage one qualifying at the Noosa Springs course in Australia.
His endeavour to turn professional looked doomed on Sunday when his flight was cancelled and he arrived 20 hours late.
‘‘This did not help my preparation as I only had one round on the course before the tournament began,'' a frustrated Croudis said.
But it appears to have made little difference after he had worked on his driving which was below par in the Toro tournament in Invercargill a week before.
In one of his best competitive rounds, Croudis had a run of birdies to be no fewer than 8 under par with two holes to play.
He looked set for a course record but he bogeyed the final two holes and had to be content with a four-shot lead.
His performance brought a round of applause at the Otago schoolboys' championships at Chisholm Park - a title he had won in 2009.
