O’Malley closes his eyes, and shoots 66
As Tiger roars were heard across The Lakes this morning, one veteran of Australian golf was quietly assembling an even better round of golf.
Peter O’Malley shot a 6-under par 66 in the second round at the Australian Open today and finds himself near the top of the leaderboard.
Tournament victories have always been rare for the talented O’Malley thanks largely to putting woes that have plagued his career and has recently taken to closing his eyes over some putts.
O’Malley sat down in the press tent soon after his bogey-free round and chatted about the day.
Here are a few excerpts starting with a comment about the length of time since seeing O’Malley on top of a leaderboard.
“I played well in the small events but I have not been in here for a while. I have been playing good golf coming into this week and I played really nicely yesterday. It was pretty tough in the afternoon. We got some great conditions out there this morning. I only missed two fairways and hit 18 greens and made two par fives in two. It probably had 32 putts for six under. That is pretty good golf.”
His putting wasn’t fantastic though, 32-putts;
“I only had four one-putts. I did not miss a green. I had two two-putt birdies and I made a good 30-footer on four for birdie. And I hit it to about three feet at eight. I started out with five feet at 13; I two-putted from 20 feet at 14; two-putted from 40 feet at 17.”
On closing his eyes over putts;
“Yes, from about six feet. I had my eyes open on that last putt. Any shorter than that and I’d close them. No. I did not miss any putts with my eyes closed, which was nice.”
“I started doing in about September last year. Because I was putting so bad…It takes away the visual anxiety. I am not seeing what the putter is doing so I don’t feel any anxiety over it. I just close my eyes and let it flow.”
