Guyatt takes surprise Masters lead - Sports Celebrity News

Guyatt takes surprise Masters lead

Queensland journeyman Matthew Guyatt upstaged favourites Adam Scott and Ian Poulter to lead both by two shots after a blistering finish to his opening round in the Australian Masters at Melbourne's Kingston Heath.

The 37-year-old's putter ran hot as he nabbed three birdies in his closing four holes and eight overall, along with one bogey, to card a 7-under-par 65 on Thursday afternoon.

Australia's top-ranked player Scott shot a 5-under 67 in the morning and in-form English defending champion Poulter matched that in the afternoon to be tied for second with New Zealander Michael Hendry.

Guyatt, who spent 1999 and 2000 on the professional circuit before dropping out, said it was only a chance meeting at a pro-am in 2010 with a man who has become his benefactor that he was able to return to the tour.

In the intervening time he married and had three children, now aged eight to three, and became a teaching professional at Brisbane's Indooroopilly Golf Club.

He said with a mortgage and three kids, he could not have given up the financial security of that job without the support of the benefactor, a fellow Christian who wished to remain anonymous.

With a win in last year's New South Wales PGA Championship his biggest tour victory to date, he admitted he was unsure how he would handle leading the likes of Scott and Poulter.

"I've never been in this position before so I'll tell you tomorrow," he told reporters.

"It's what you do all your hard work and your practice for.

"We all know it takes four good days to win the tournament, especially against the calibre of those guys."

Earlier, initial frustrations with the putter kept Scott to even par on his opening nine holes, before a run of four straight birdies, including one from a huge putt on the par-four second (Scott's 11th) energised his round.

While Scott felt nine or 10-under might have been possible in the benign conditions, he was happy enough.

"I'm on my way," he said.

Poulter, surprised to find such conducive scoring conditions in the afternoon, knew nothing of Guyatt but refused to look ahead to a potential weekend showdown with Scott.

"It's Thursday. There's 120 players, not two," he said.

Of other big names, 2010 champion Stuart Appleby dropped three shots in his last two holes to finish 1-under-par, a score shared by Irish 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, while two-time champion Robert Allenby shot even par.


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