Queenslander Christopher Wood has taken first round honours of the final stage of ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School presented by Cobra Puma Golf played today at the Sandhurst Club.

Handling the stifling hot conditions to secure top spot, Wood fired 8-under 64 to hold a one shot lead going into the second round.

“I stayed steady off the tee, didn’t hit any bad shots and chipped and putted well all day. But my putting was the highlight,” said Wood who had a total of 25 putts.

“When you see the putts start to drop you gain confidence. There wasn’t a putt on these greens today that I didn’t think I could hole.

“It wasn’t anything ridiculous, maybe only 15 feet, but I was continuously holing eight to 10 foot putts for birdie and par.”

The secret to Wood’s new found success according to the 26-year-old is Major Champion Ian Baker-Finch and his local PGA Professional Matthew King, Head Pro at Wynnum Golf Club.

“I have been doing a drill I got off Ian Baker-Finch, I have been doing it the last six weeks and my putting has improved out of sight,” added Wood.

“The drill is on YouTube, so anyone can access it, but my coach knows him quite well and Ian told him specifically to give it to me.

“Before that the putts just hadn’t been dropping, and since doing the simple drill the putts have been falling, so I guess I can give IBF some credit.”

This week presents a huge opportunity for Wood, who finds himself back at Qualifying School after trying to juggle the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and PGA TOUR China in 2016.

“Last year was my first year playing two tours and I made the PGA TOUR China my main focus. I withdrew from the last two tournaments in China to try and avoid coming back to Q-School.

“I didn’t get into all the big events last year at home, so it’s very important I play well this week.

“It’s weeks like this that sets up your whole year. To get a score under my belt early on gives me a lot of confidence and hopefully the ball keeps rolling the next few days.”

In second outright position is 2009 Q-School Champion, Victorian Andrew Martin with a score of 7-under 65.

“Early on my driver wasn’t really behaving, but I scrambled well,” Martin said.

“About the 7^th hole I started driving better and some putts started to drop, I’d like to be driving a bit better but around here (Sandhurst) you can get away with it a little bit.”

Martin said he can draw on the experience of his last win at Sandhurst and build on his solid start to the week.

“I won the Q-School here in 2009 and I know if you get a good start in these tournaments you can carry that momentum through.

“There’s a lot of opportunities out there to improve, considering I didn’t drive that well I can look at tomorrow and not do anything too silly, just place it out there and trust the rest of my game.”

Recent PGA Trainee graduate Brody Martin, from Western Australia, is tied 3rd after firing 6-under 66. This is his first time trying to qualify for the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I started pretty smoothly, I hit my first shot for an eight foot eagle to start, then a shaky bogey on the next par-3,” Brody said.

“I steadied things with about seven pars in a row then made a birdie and then another eagle on one of the par-5’s.

“Another bogey on the 17^th but other than that it was good.”

“After a good year as a Trainee I really wanted to step in and see how I go with big boys, some of these guys have played in the Web.com and PGA TOUR.

“It’s just opened my eyes a little bit watching those guys and I now realise how much I’ve got to learn, it was really good.”

He said the PGA Trainee program has improved his tournament preparation immensely, from travelling to planning his diet and getting used to different climates.

“The Trainee Program has really helped me get prepared for tournaments and that’s obviously helped with my golf today. If I just showed up and teed off it’d be really difficult, so being prepared has been really good.”

Joining Martin in a tie for third is Benjamin Clementson (NSW), Scott Arnold (NSW) and New Zealander Tae Koh.

For all scores and tees times for Qualifying School please visit www.pga.org.au.