First round International

Stuart Appleby had a very solid start in the first round of the International, highlighted by an eagle when he holed a bunker shot from 20 yards at the 14th hole for eagle and 5 points. He finished with a total of 11 points, tied second behind Mattius Gronberg from Sweden on 13 points. Stuart blocked several drives out to the right in the first round, but we are confident that we worked that out on the range afterwards. I felt that he was perhaps a little tight and swing conscious rather than relaxing his setup, focus on the target, move the club away slightly inside and swing positively at the target. He hit some beautiful drives to finish on the range, so I think he will take that to the course tomorrow with some confidence.