Mountcastle Shoots 62

Kerry Mountcastle has taken control of the New Zealand Stroke Play Championship after producing a career best round of nine-under, 62 to equal the course record at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club this morning.

He joins an illustrious group of golfers that have shot this magic number at this venue which includes Paul Gow, Pat Thompson, Brad Iles, Maurice Bembridge and our very best Sir Bob Charles. This will go down as one of the championships best rounds in history however, the opening two rounds have been preferred lies.

Things got off to a lightning start for the New Zealand Academy player with three birdies in a row, before the moment that took things to a new level by making an eagle on the par four sixth which was followed by three more birdies in a row to finish his amazing morning.

“I got off to a decent start after making birdies on 11, 12 then 13 and managed to hole a couple of putts which was nice,” said Mountcastle.

He has played the ‘course that tamed the Tiger’ on many occasions which also helped, but tried a different tactic on the par four sixth today.

“I laid up for probably the first time ever on the hole and left myself a full wedge into the back pin and managed to spin it in there.

I’ve played well most of the times I have been here, so knowing the course well certainly helped. I will just be looking to stay nice and relaxed from here and keep things simple.”

Although the chasing pack can barely see Mountcastle’s dust, Johnny Tynan sits in tied second after a round of six-under, 65 which would have been leading yesterday, but after the early drama, he is still a long way back from claiming his first big crown.

Joining Tynan in second place is Sam Nichols from Palmerston North who has signed for matching rounds of three-under, 68 to be crafting a very successful week for the Turbo.

Canterbury’s Juliana Hung has been joined by Auckland’s Carmen Lim at eight-under par to create a mouth-watering shootout on the final day at the spiritual home of New Zealand Golf.

The two young-guns hold a three-shot advantage at the women’s New Zealand Stroke Play Championship over Marina Ito, who flew up the leaderboard with the days lowest round of five-under par.

After blitzing the field in yesterday’s opening round of six-under, Hung showed patience and maturity in the shortened 54-hole event as she moves a step closer to the biggest win of her career.

Also in search for a breakthrough win, Lim has produced identical rounds of four-under (70) to show her consistency and the threat she will pose on the final day. Her round was much more colourful with eight birdies and four bogeys. She made the turn at just one-under before dominating the home stretch to finish with back to back birdies.

This event may have missed out on 18 holes of golf, but it hasn’t lacked entertainment with an extremely high standard of golf shown over the opening two days.

Due to more weather challenges, we will be playing one field tomorrow starting at 8:00am. The men’s field has been reduced to the leading 50 players and ties while we introduced a cut in the women’s field to the leading 20 players and ties. This provides the best opportunity to complete the 54-hole championship.