Gow leads field after record round

Little-known Australian Paul Gow left a string of big names in his wake when he shot a course record eight-under-par 64 in the first round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Gow, who teed off early before testing winds picked up in the afternoon, fired nine birdies and one bogey during the opening round at the par-72 Royal Sydney Golf Club course, breaking Greg Chalmers's five-year-old course record by two shots.

He led fellow Australians Jarrod Moseley and Brendan Jones by two, while young amateur Aaron Baddeley was a further shot back on 67 alongside Australian Robert Allenby and Irishman Paul McGinley.

"I just played smart," Gow said. "I took a lot of irons off the tees and kept it in the middle."

England's Nick Faldo showed a welcome return to form with a four-under 68, two ahead of five-time Australian Open winner Greg Norman, who was disappointed with his score.

"The conditions were very easy this morning and in fact, 70 was a very poor score today under the circumstances," Norman said.

Poor putting hindered Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who had a disappointing round of 72 which included 36 putts.

"It's just criminal," Montgomerie said.

"When you take 36 putts then 72 is the best score you can get – simple as that.

"It's too many putts for the nth time this year. I took many today, too many last week and too many the week before that.

And it's not like he was unlucky.

"Sometimes they weren't even close," he admitted.

"People say be patient and they'll drop, but I've been patient and they haven't dropped – I'm running out of patience."

He's also running out of putting techniques.

Montgomerie confessed he changed his putting grip three times in the course of today's round.

"I'm always experimenting. When they don't go in I try something else – I'm just about running out of experiments."

Asked if there was anything he could do before he tees off in the second round, he replied: "I just won't sleep, as usual."

Frenchman Jean van de Velde was one under after a subdued round with one bogey and two birdies.

Dane Thomas Bjorn, who won in Japan last week, had a more interesting 71 -- seven pars, five bogeys and six birdies.