Popovic claims first round lead

Last updated: 13th December 2012

Unheralded Daniel Popovic carded a first round 64 to open up a two-stroke lead at the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday.

The rookie, who is playing in his first season at the Australasian PGA Tour, finished his first round at the Palmer Coolum Resort on eight under par.

Starting his round on the 10th, Popovic birdied his first four holes and picked up more shots on the 17th, 18th, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and bogeyed only the 15th in a near-flawless round.

"It wasn't the best of conditions, but after last week at the Australian Open I got used to hitting a lot of wind shots," he said.

"I didn't really want to attack the flags, but after a while I talked to my caddie and we decided to start hitting straight at them."

Fellow Aussie Scott Strange fired a 66 and is on six-under, with former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, Zhang Xinjun, Choo Tze-huang and Geoff Ogilvy another shot further behind.

Peter Senior, who recently won the Australian Open, is on four-under along with Stephen Dartnall, Jason Scriverner and Ryan Haller.

Darren Clarke finished his round at two-under, but former world number one was forced to withdraw after just finishing two holes.

Norman carded back-to-back bogeys but food poisoning ended his participation in the event.