As he made his way to the 4th tee at the Australian Golf Club today, Nathan Holman was offered some sage advice by his coach  PGA Pro Marty Joyce. He chose to ignore it. Good decision.

"As we were walking to the green my coach said ‘this is no good, don’t go at this pin," Holman said.

"I said ‘what do you mean’. He goes, ‘it’s too tough’. Sometimes you listen to them, sometimes you don’t. I went at it, hit a good shot and rolled about a 30 footer in (for birdie)."

"I was hitting it pretty good in the morning so I thought I may as well take an aggressive line and hopefully it works out. It did."

Holman was one of the few players who walked off the 4th green with a smile on his face. 

On a day when the scoring was kept in check once again by the course and the conditions, the 4th was the most penal hole of all.

Time and again, players found themselves in trouble as they tackled this 193-metre monster.

Adam Scott lost his tee shot left and somehow made par. Amateur Ryan Ruffels found the water and walked off with a bogey. Rory McIlroy found the water as well.

Craig Parry, Peter Fowler and Cameron Smith played together and arrived to find their balls within 30 centimetres of each other in the back bunker.

American Jamie Lovemark was six under for the day when he arrived at the 4th. A bogey halted his momentum.  Then there was American Jordan Spieth, who hit one of the better tee shots of the morning.

"I hit a really good shot right over the green," Spieth said.

"I knew it would be a basic pitch back on or maybe a pitch in or a tap-in. But one of the officials kicked my ball or stepped on it and it moved."

"I didn’t know that so I was about to take a practice swing but the people in the crowd had told me he had done that. It’s the third time that has happened to me this year, which is really amazing because the ball is 10 foot off the green.

"I don’t see how you don’t know where the golf balls are. I know everyone makes mistakes. It was on a good patch of grass and I knew the rule was that I had to drop it nearest where it was.

"When I dropped it, it rolled down into a bare hole spot where I couldn’t chip it on to the green because I had to deal with the fringe in front of the green.

"Therefore it stopped my ball and I missed my four footer. I was really unlucky, I went from having a chance at two there to making a four. I was not happy going to the next hole.

"But I had a couple of good looks the next couple of holes and finished strong."

Spieth eventually finished at 3-under, good enough to be in a share of the clubhouse lead when he signed his card. Holman will be there on the weekend as well, in no small part thanks to his birdie at the 4th.

"It is an intimidating hole – water on the right, the miss on the left is no good and it is playing into the wind," Holman said.

"It’s a difficult hole so most guys would be happy with a three there."