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Avondale Golf Club Associate Linus Yip has shrugged off indifferent form and rid himself of last year’s scar tissue to make a blistering start to the PGA Associate National Championship at Cobram Barooga Golf Club.
Yip and Third Year Virginia Golf Club Associate Zach Ion both took full advantage of perfect conditions and pure putting surfaces to post rounds of 7-under 65 on day one at Cobram Barooga’s West Course.
They sit three strokes clear of a group of seven players at 4-under-par with an additional four players just one shot further back at 3-under.
Admitting that his form in 2024 hasn’t quite matched the results he delivered in his first year of the Membership Pathway Program, Yip was thrilled to turn a brilliant start to his round into a complete performance.
“I’ve actually been struggling this year results-wise,” said Yip.
“Had a really good year last year, had a fair few wins. The only thing that was lacking was a four-day win under my belt.
“It’s good to get this kind of monkey off my back, being able to just finish off a good round.
“Last year I actually had a pretty good round going in the third round and wasn’t able to finish it off.
“Mentally, it was good just to get over that scar tissue coming in today.”
Yip began the championship with an eagle at the par-5 first and then followed it up with an approach to two feet at the par-4 second to be 3-under in no time.
He had six additional birdies to go with two bogeys but had company at the top of the leaderboard by day’s end.
Ion himself was 4-under through six holes on Tuesday but dropped a shot at the par-3 eighth.
With birdies at 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16 Ion sat one clear at 8-under but made a final bogey at the par-4 17th to sit alongside Yip at 7-under.
Playing in his third National Championship, Ion enjoyed being back on the Cobram Barooga greens but credited his driver with opening so many birdie opportunities during the round.
“Really good with driver today, leaving myself in good spots,” was Ion’s assessment.
“When I needed to lay up, I left myself a good number and with the greens as good as these are, it’s good to be able to fly behind the pin and spin it back, which is different to what I’m used to.
“Made a couple of longer putts too which really helped the score.”
Round 2 starts at 7:30am AEST on Wednesday morning with the afternoon wave to commence at 11:20am.
