The Australian Masters is being played at The Metropolitan Golf Club, one of eight golf courses that are are considered to be vintage sandbelt creations located within 20 minutes of downtown Melbourne (or as it is refer to it here in Australia, the CBD, Central Business District). Officially included in the “Sandbelt Melbourne Classic Golf” along with ‘Metro’ are Commonwealth Golf Club, Huntingdale Golf Club, Kingston Heath Golf Club, Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club, Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria Golf Club,  and Yarra Yarra Golf Club.

So far this week I was invited to play two of the golf courses and humbly accepted the invitations at Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath. Both golf courses were spectacular and being hosted by and playing with members a unique and memorable experience. There is no better way to be introduced to Sandbelt Melbourne Classic Golf. I was intrigued by the experience and wanted to know how Australian professional golfers like Adam Scott characterize playing sandbelt golf so I asked him the following question in his post-round interview (courtesy of IMG, after following an opening 73 with a 68):

Q. You’ve obviously been very successful here in the Melbourne Sandbelt. What in your mind is unique about Sandbelt golf, and what, if anything, going into the weekend do you prepare differently playing here versus in the U.S.?

ADAM SCOTT: In the way you approach the Sandbelt, it’s not unlike links golf. It’s very hard to just go out and attack. Positioning your golf ball is key to doing that. You have to get it in the right spot off the tee to have the right chance to attack a pin. Because if you just go out there and fly away at everything, hit driver everywhere and try to throw it at pins with 6 irons, you’re going to end up having big numbers.

So, it is much like links golf where you kind of position yourself around the golf course with the ball running. Some of the irons are running 300 yards which is very much like an Open Championship, so you have to be aware of that. And whereas in the States, I guess the ball pretty much stops where it lands. I mean, it’s rare that you see 20 yards of run, and here, you can see 60. So you really have to control your golf ball extremely well to have a nice looking scorecard here.

I agree wholeheartedly as I did not control my golf ball well at either golf course and my scorecard did not look pretty. But there were pockets of perfection such as a deuce on the 10th hole, the original, very first hole created at the Heath and the 15-footer sand save on the last at Royal Melbourne to win the match for my host partner against another member and his guest. Sandbelt golf is very similar to links golf in the Home of Golf on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland except you can only experience the “Excellent & Elegant Eight” right here near Melbourne.

The cut is the low 60 and ties here on the PGA Australasian Tour. There were exactly 60 golfers at the plus-1 score of 145 but 66 golfers made the cut? How could that be? Three amateurs made the cut (Todd Sinnott T3, 67-71, Ryan Ruffles T30, 75-68 and Lucas Herbert T50, 75-70) and they are not included in the 60 count so six more players at plus-2 146 will get to play on the weekend. All three Americans in the field made the cut lead by Kyle Stanley (T20, 69-73) with Boo Weekley at T36 after a pair of even par 72s and Zac Blair at T50 (70-75).

Michael Wright (67-68) from Queensland is the leader with a two-stroke lead over South Australian Paul Spargo (70-67. Well-known Australians still in the hunt at the halfway point in the 2014 Masters are Geoff Ogilvy (T7, 69-1), Adam Scott (T12, 73-68), Steven Bowditch (T20, 67-75), and Robert Allenby (T30, 70-73). Notables missing the cut and likely heading up to Sydney for next week’s Australian Open include Scott Gardiner, Rod Pampling, Greg Chalmers and Stuart Appleby.

I found a question posed to Michael Wright quite interesting:

Q. You’re obviously a believer in the power of the mind. Do you meditate or is this something new that you’ve brought to your game over the last few years?

MICHAEL WRIGHT: No, I’ve tried meditating and I’m no bloody good at it. But I ain’t doing it near as much as I probably should.

I’ve had a few sports psychs over the years and they have all encouraged me to do it and pushed me to do it, and I try and push myself. But I’m just hopeless at it. I can’t look at a dot for more than, I don’t know, a couple seconds without something coming in. I’m a shocker when it comes to meditation. But breathing is maybe I am meditating, like I’m conscious of my breath and that sort of calms me, I do a bit of that on the course. Maybe call that meditation. Some people would, I don’t know. But yeah, the actual art of meditating, I’m a shocker.

Meditation and yoga are keys for me, it’s all about flexibility and relaxation and being prepared for hopefully another game of Sandbelt Melbourne golf for me before heading north back to Sydney.

Life, it’s all about the golf and golf, it seems to me, is all about life.

Halfway through the 2014 Australian Masters… in the Sandbelt Melboure area of Australia… able to experience it for myself at Royal Melbourne & Kingston Heath and see the pros play some sandbelt golf!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/22/14)

 

 

I wanted to be here to see Adam Scott go off the 10th tee at 7:45 am with amateur Ryan Ruffels and Geoff Ogilvy. A 6 am alarm, shower and only a 15-minute, 8-kilometer commute from my accommodation in Glen Waverly. But it was 8:21 am before I sat in my chair in the media center at The Metropolitan Golf Club, a.k.a. known here as the ‘Metro.’ I get distracted easily and there is always some voyaging and documenting to do—meeting Mr. & Mrs. Will Call, checking out the cricket pitch and Australian football goal posts (and learn what a goal and a behind is) at the South Oakleaf Bowling Club, and meeting so many nice and helpful people as I got settled in here in the media center.

Adam started with four pars and then a bogey at the 15th. I wanted to see him play the 18th so out I went onto the course for the first time. I met up with the group on the 17th green just in time to see the 16-year old make a 40-foot bomb for birdie. Adam still at +1 and Geoff at even par both made par so the youngster had the honor on the 18th tee. He blasted a drive way down the fairway which the major champions were unable to match by about 30 yards. Scott bunkered his drive, was unable to advance the ball very far, then bunkered his approach and missed a 15-footer and made double-bogey. I watched the group play No. 1 and hit their tee shots on the par-3 12th hole. Scott would recover with all pars and an eagle on No. 6 on his second nine to finish with a 1-over par 73. Ogilvy had three birdies coming in to shoot a 3-under par 69. The fearless and confident kid who reminds me of a young (and older) Rory McIlroy bogeyed two of the last three to shoot a 3-over 75.

The low round of the day was a 5-under par 67 shot by four golfers—European Tour winner Stephen Allan, 2014 Texas Open champion Stephen Bowditch, the Number One ranked Australian Amateur Todd Sinnott, and Michael Wright who tweeted yesterday that he was “not sure if you can get a golf course in any better condition.” The three Americans in the field played decently with Kyle Stanley shooting a 69, Zac Blair a 70 and Boo Weekley an even par round.

I stopped by the television compound to say hello to one of the most talented and nicest people in the golf broadcasting business—Ian Baker Finch. He is the first person I have seen in the three weeks that I have been in Australia that I knew before I came here. He kindly introduced me to Peter Donegan, his fellow commentator, as they call them down here. Donegan is one of Australia’s most respected sports presenters and commentators and is with ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company). In American golf broadcasting terms Donegan is the host and Ian the analyst. On course reporters are Ossie Moore, who won the Order of Merit on the PGA Tour of Australasia in 1985, and Wayne Grady, winner of the 1990 PGA Championship. I am excited to watch some of the broadcast to get a feel for how it is produced and presented here in Australia, which surprisingly does not have a Golf Channel of its own. IMG produces the show and it is aired on the Seven Network.

In Australian golf, the Triple Crown refers to winning the three major domestic championships, the Australian Open, the Australian Masters and the Australian PGA Championship. Winning all three titles in the same season is a feat only achieved by Robert Allenby in 2005. I will be attending all three and it will be interesting to see if anyone matches Allenby’s feat in 2014!

Springtime in Australia, time for the Australian Masters… exciting first day!   (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 11/20/14)