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Japan's Takumi Kanaya showed why he is the
world's top amateur by shooting an opening round 65 and topped
the leaderboard alone until Taiwan's Chun An Yu joined him on
six-under-par late in the afternoon.
The pair were two shots ahead of a trio of local challengers,
including 2015 champion Matt Jones, with former British Open
winner Louis Oosthuizen and England's Paul Casey in a group of
15 a stroke further back on three-under.
Casey played in a group with Adam Scott (75) and Sergio Garcia
(70) that endured the worst of the smoke blown over The
Australian Golf Club from fires that have raged in the
countryside around Sydney for the last month.
"I must admit my eyes are stinging," said Casey, who hit an
eagle three after a brilliant approach shot at the 14th in his
flawless 68.
"I'm not going to complain because there's people in a lot worse
position than me. It makes it tricky but overcoming the elements
is part of golf."
Scott, who like Oosthuizen and four other players is preparing
for next week's Presidents Cup challenge against the United
States in Melbourne, made a poor start to his quest for a second
Australian Open title with five bogeys and a sole birdie.
"(The smoke) got pretty thick for a while, it still is. It's not
great," said Scott, adding that he would look into wearing a
face mask for the second round on Friday.
"It feels like I should shove a bit of salt water up my nose or
something and try and rinse myself out. Obviously not the
conditions we want to be playing in. You kind of hope for rain."
Kanaya made the most of the more benign early conditions to
spray five birdies on his front nine and a couple more to finish
after a single blemish at the third hole, his 12th.
"I had a bit of luck and I'm happy," said the 21-year-old Tohoku
Fukushi University student.
"That has given me a little bit confidence but I have three more
days to go. I will do my best tomorrow."
Yu, known better as Kevin to his fellow students at Arizona
State University, was a later starter but, unperturbed by the
smoke, matched Kanaya's seven birdies to join his fellow amateur
at the top of the leaderboard.
"The air didn't smell really good, but I can get used to it, so
no big deal to me," he said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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