New South Welshman Ben Clementson overcame a horror start
today to be the early leader at the Isuzu Queensland Open.

Playing in the morning field and teeing off the 1^st,
Clementson was 3-over after four holes and worrying about how tough the day
could be.

"I played ok out there, I didn’t get off to the best start
but I just tried to keep the ball in play."

"At a course like this you can’t afford to make too many
mistakes. There are plenty of birdie opportunities out there but you have to
make sure you hit it in play."

Clementson started to find those birdies thanks to a lengthy
birdie putt on the par-4 5^th which ignited his round.

"The first four holes I hit it in play but I struggled on
the greens," added Clementson.

"I was thinking at that point that I am 3-over through 4
holes, but then on the 5^th, I had a decent putt for birdie and I
rolled it in and that really started things up for me."

Clementson, who enjoyed The Brisbane Golf Club greens, went
onto reel off seven birdies to post a 4-under 66 and lead the Isuzu Queensland
Open after the morning field of round one.

"If you pick the right line and hit it at the right speed
the greens pretty much do the job themselves," added Clementson.

"You just have to trust yourself to hit a good putt and
believe that it will go in. That’s what I did today on a few holes"

"I’ll take that same approach going into tomorrow and
hopefully reproduce what I did today."

The 25-year-old from Botany in Sydney is enjoying seeing his
name on top of the leaderboard.

"Obviously you don’t know how everyone else is going so you
just stick to your own game. Once I got into the clubhouse I checked the
scoreboard and realised I was leading by two."

"It’s one of those things that doesn’t happen too often so
I’ll just appreciate that I have done a good job out there."

Having played on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia
since 2014, Clementson has turned to a season Tour Pro, Anthony Summers, to help
him navigate life on the Tour.

"I have been working with Anthony Summers lately; he is
helping me get to a spot where I feel like my golf game is going to progress,"
added Clementson.

"He is a very knowledgeable guy. He knows what he is talking
about, he has been out here for a long time and he has won before so I’ll have
a chat to him this afternoon to get some feedback from him."

"But going out there today and doing what I did shows that
the work is paying dividends."

"I am just going to keep doing what I do and hopefully
everything works out this week and I am there at the end holding up the
trophy."

Sitting a shot further back of Clementson are Gavin Fairfax
and Alex Edge who opened their Isuzu Queensland Open campaigns with 3-under the
card.

On 2-under the card are Mark Brown, Mitchell Brown, Aaron
Pike, Brad Moules, Adam Stephens and Michael Wright.

The afternoon field is now on course.