Josh Geary is hoping to make the most of a last-minute invite to play in the SP PNG Open in 2019 as he looks to re-gain status on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

Flying into Port Moresby following a three-event stint on the European and Challenge Tours, Geary makes his debut at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club with little knowledge of the course but recent play under his belt.

“I have just spent the last two weeks in Europe,” said Geary. “I played in Morocco at the Trophee Hassan II tournament and then the Challenge Tour last week.

“My game has been pretty good this year. I had a second and seventh in New Zealand and then a ninth in Kenya at the Kenya Open so that was a good start. I just need to get the ball rolling for the year now.”

Starting his year with a tie for second place at the co-sanctioned 100^th NZ Open in Queenstown and a top-10 result at the NZ PGA Championship the following week, Geary presents as one of the marquee players in a strong field of young and established talent assembled in Papua New Guinea.

“I saw some good names here for sure,” Geary added. “There are a lot of young guys who haven’t had much of a chance to get out there yet so yeah I’m sure it won’t be easy with a lot of good players.

“It’ll take some good play to contend I think. My form wasn’t great the last two weeks as I had a few issues with the body but I think it should be alright this week.”

Despite the field Geary won’t let the pressure get to him as he aims for another win on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I don’t really feel the extra pressure but there is a little bit I guess,” continued Geary, who won the 2013 WA Open.

“People are watching and expecting you to do well but golf is golf and you never quite know what’s going to happen.

“A win would be nice because at the moment I don’t have status on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I’ve only had invites so far this year so a win would actually get me starts for the rest of the season which is what I’m going for.”

Securing a card on Tour is important for Geary who believes having the opportunity to play both overseas and in Australasia is an asset for players looking to play a full season each year.

“There are a lot of pathways available,” said Geary of the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“The Tour has a lot of starts and the European Tour card for the number one on the order of merit as well as starts at WGCs.

“Being close to home is always good as well. It’s great playing at events in both New Zealand and Australia and overseas like here in Papua New Guinea.”

Playing in the hot, humid conditions at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club will do little to throw Geary off his game as he looks forward to the challenge of the SP PNG Open.

“You get used to it,” said Geary. “A few of these countries that we visit get really hot and as long as you hydrate and eat well you should be alright for energy levels.”

Geary is just one of many players joining the tournament from overseas as players from the PGA Tour – China including James Marchesani, Charlie Dann, James Grierson and Dale Williamson join the field.

Round one of the SP PNG Open tees off at 7:00am on Thursday at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club in Papua New Guinea with Geary joining Australian Josh Younger and Canadian Jordan Pittman off the 10^th tee at 11:15am local time.

Kiwi Josh Geary has recorded his best finish on the European Tour at the Magical Kenya Open at Karen Country Club in Kenya.

Continuing on from the excellent form that saw him contend at both the New Zealand Open and SEC NZ PGA Championship, Geary closed with a 3-under par round of 68 to finish tied for ninth, seven shots behind Italian champion Guido Migliozzi.

In 44 previous starts on the European Tour Geary had never finished better than a tie for 10th, a birdie at the 72nd hole was enough to move him inside the top-10.

Starting the final round in a tie for 13th, Geary dropped further back in the pack with a bogey at the 178-metre par-3 fourth but started to gather some momentum at the turn courtesy of birdies at 6 and 7.

A birdie at the par-5 12th for the fourth day in succession got him to 2-under on his round before his first birdie of the week at the 404m par-4 18th catapulted him up inside the top-10.

South Australian Nick Cullen saved his best round for the week – a 2-under 69 – for the final day to end the tournament tied for 54th.

Cullen’s final round saw him move up 11 spots on the leaderboard but after he was 5-under through 13 holes could have been much higher, a double bogey at 15 and bogey at 17 leaving a sour taste in the mouth.

Victorian Deyen Lawson, the only other Australian in the field, missed the cut with rounds of 72-79.

Magical Kenya Open

Karen Country Club, Nairobi, Kenya

T9           Josh Geary          67-73-67-68—275           € 22,293

T54        Nick Cullen          72-70-73-69—284            € 3,850

MC         Deyen Lawson    72-79—151

Hometown hero Josh Geary’s strong run of form has continued at the SEC NZ PGA Championship where he leads after the first round.

Teeing off in the morning field, Geary charged his way to the top of the leaderboard shooting 9-under 63.

Thanks to his hot round Geary now holds the Pegasus Golf and Sports Club course record and a two-shot lead over the field.

“I hit the ball nicely all day and gave myself lots of good looks,” said Geary.

“I got off to a good start. I was 5-under through nine holes I made a nice eagle on the par-5 early to kick start my round a bit.

“Then I birdied the 9th hole turning at 5-under and then missed a couple of opportunities on the front-9 but was able to make some nice putts on holes 6 and 7.

“On the last hole there I knocked it on for a chance at eagle but couldn’t quite convert.”

Despite the low score Geary was not fully satisfied with his round, citing missed putting opportunities as an aspect to work on ahead of round two.

“Believe it or not missed some makeable putts but made some bigger ones so it evened out but it felt a bit weird,” he added.

“I made some good big ones but couldn’t really make the mid-range ones but I’m happy with the way I hit it.

“My game was really solid, especially when the wind got up. Those last nine holes were quite tough in that wind.”

South-easterly winds picked up around the Christchurch course as the round progressed. Conditions are expected to remain much the same ahead of tomorrow’s second round where Geary will join Australians Matt Millar and Ben Eccles in the afternoon.

“My game is in good shape but tomorrow will be very dependent on the weather as to how we go,” continued Geary.

“If we get a windy draw it could be quite tough but if it’s calm it could be easier so it was a great start to the event.

“I just need to capitalise and play solid tomorrow in the afternoon because it will be much harder than this morning.”

Australian Jack Weston is also off to a flying start in his first tournament as a professional sitting alone in second place, two shots off the lead.

Turning pro at the start of 2019, Weston joined the field at the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia event through Monday’s pre-qualifying.

“I turned pro about six weeks ago,” said Weston.

“I tried to pre-qualify for the Queensland PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago and didn’t make it but I pre-qualified again on Monday and made it through.

“My biggest goal was just to get into a tournament and I knew once I was there I could showcase my golf out and that’s what I did today.

“I’m happy with 65 and to be here in my first event I have no words. It’s all a massive learning curve for me so I’m just taking it one step at a time.”

A total of four players finished the day in a tie for third place at 6-under the card, with Blake Proverbs and Daniel Fox playing in the morning round followed by Nick Flanagan and Sam An this afternoon.

“It got quite windy out there but I just tried to play as solid as I could, play some good shots, hole some nice putts and obviously 66 is quite pleasing,” said An.

“I’m happy I had a good round today, with all of my struggles I didn’t know if I would play this well on a track like this but I’m getting better and I’m super stoked after today.”

Flanagan echoed An’s thoughts that ‘boring’ but solid golf was what it took in the windy conditions to make a good score.

“It was pretty tricky early but I played pretty solid all of the way through that and once it died down on the last four or five holes, I had a good run at it coming in and got it done in the end,” Flanagan added.

“I just played really steady golf. I made putts that I should have made, I missed a couple of small putts for birdie, probably like every round it could have been better but it could have been worse.”

Highlighting today’s morning round was a hole-in-one from Marco Zirov on the 169 meter 11^th hole where he hit the ace shot with a 4-iron, a first on tour for the New South Welshman.

Play in round two will begin at 7:45am at Pegasus Golf and Sports Club on Friday.