Price leads in Canada after opening with 7-under 65
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada – Australian Aron Price posted a solid 7-under 65 at the par-72 Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay to move into the first-round lead at the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic presented by Samsung – a first-year event on the Nationwide Tour.Price’s roller-coaster of a round consisted of birdies at Nos. 1, 6, 7, 13 and 14 and eagles at the par-5 third and 10th holes – offset only by bogeys at Nos. 3 and 10. In the end it led to a one-stroke lead over eight players – including 2008 Henrico County Open winner Greg Chalmers (65/Georgian Bay Golf Club) and 1998 Greater Greensboro Classic winner Trevor Dodds (66/Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay).
“I’m not the most accurate driver out there but I did hit my fair share of fairways today,” said Price, who hit seven of 13 on the day. “To sum it up from there, I chipped in once (for eagle on the 16th hole) and made two 30-foot putts (one for eagle on No. 4 and one for birdie on No. 7). That is how you turn a 68 into a 65.”
Price, the winner of the 2008 Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship, began his round in a less-than-stellar fashion with a bogey on the par-5 10th hole.
“I really got off to a terrible start,” said Price, who sits No. 11 on the official money list. “I watched Matt (Every) pull it left off the tee and I stepped up there and protected against the left shot a bit and blocked it into the woods. I had to chip out and wound up making a bogey which is more like a double bogey since it is a reachable par-5. Pretty much from there on out I played great.”
Speaking of playing great, Price has moved all the way into the 11th spot on the official money list thanks largely to five top-25 finishes and his first career win in northern California. Thursday’s opening-round 65 was a season best for Price – and just one shy of the career-low 64 he recorded during the second round of the 2007 Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.
“I feel like I’ve played well in every tournament,” said Price, a 26-year-old native of Sydney, Australia. “Even if I miss the cut, I don’t feel like it is because of how I played, it is more because of some bad breaks.”
The Nationwide Tour is taking a detour from its normal tournament format this week with 160 celebrity/amateurs partnering up with Tour professionals in the team competition. An overall purse of $800,099 (in honor of tournament host and hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky) is up for grabs in the professional competition with $144,017 going to Sunday’s winner. The format seems to be working so far for the tournament leader.
“I played with my good friend Ben Hayes today,” said Price, who attended Georgia Southern University. “I played college golf with him and he played professionally until about six months ago. Then he decided it was time to get a real job.”
Canadian and 2008 South Georgia Classic winner Bryan DeCorso and 2001 U.S. Amateur champion Bubba Dickerson headline a group of 14 players who are two shots behind Price.
First Round News & Notes: Kalin Johnson, a 54-year-old resident of Oakville, Canada, won a 2009 Ford Flex with a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole (5-iron, 189 yards) at the Georgian Bay Club … Kyle Reifers and Tom Turner lead the team competition after carding a 14-under 58, one stroke in front of Colt Knost and Brett Hull and two clear of seven teams – including Bryan DeCorso and Janet Jones-Gretzky … Other team scores of note: Wayne Gretzky and David Hearn (7-under 65), NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley and Craig Bowden (4-under 68) and NFL Hall of Famer John Elway and Ricky Barnes (3-under 68) … Trevor Dodds is no stranger to success in Canada. He won six times on the Canadian Tour from 1995-96 and led the Order of Merit both years … Play was suspended on both courses due to a dangerous situation at 2:50 p.m. After the thunderstorms passed over the Blue Mountain area, play resumed at 3:58 p.m. at the Raven Golf Club and at 4:07 p.m. at the Georgian Bay Club … First-round scoring averages: par-71 Georgian Bay Club (70.138), par-72 Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay (70.430) … Craig Lile withdrew after nine holes with an injury, while Jay Delsing withdrew after the first round with an injury.
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