Nick

Cullen

The local man has fired 68 three times previously at the Queensland track and this is the third time he’s posted that score in round one. Today’s effort was enough to put him in a five-way tie for third place, just one back from fellow Aussies Lucas Herbert and Brett Rankin. The World No. 924 played a solid opening nine after starting at No. 10, surrounding birdies at 12 and 13 with seven pars. It was more of an adventure after that as he traded a bogey and a birdie at 2 and 3, reeled off a hat-trick of par breakers at 6, 7 and 8 and then swallowed a walk-off bogey at the par-5 9th when a red circle would have secured the outright lead. Despite his good previous starts, Cullen has yet to crack the top 20 in his home event (22-25-38-31-MC). We last saw him finishing T33 in the Australian Open two weeks ago.

The Aussie grinder shares his spot with Erik Van Rooyen, Mike Lorenzo Vera and Nacho Elvira, all of them, like the four players in a tie for third, winless at this level so eyeing a big opportunity in the final lap. Cullen went lowest of all of the top five on Saturday despite a front nine that reaped no more than a birdie at the first and bogey at the eighth. Instead his work was done on the way home, ticking the tenth and 12th, then the 16th and 17th, the latter thanks to an 18’0" putt which saw him briefly take the lead. The extent of the 34-year-old inexperience on the ET? He’s never before been top ten after 54 holes and he is taking aim tomorrow at his career-best finish of T10 in the 2016 Lyoness Open.

Q School grad Cullen is one of six home Aussie players in the top eight after two days at the Melbourne venue so local knowledge is working out well. After a 66 at the Creek Course, Cullen was at the Beach Course today and got to work early with birdies at the second and third. He settled with four four pars and then lost his way a little with bogey-5s at Nos. 8 and 10. Thankfully, he had a par 5 to play next and a red number there got him back on track, the World No. 521 then reeling off a hat-trick of gains at 13, 14 and 15 before a walk-off circle at 18 took him up to tied sixth.

The Australian gets the chance to make his tournament debut due to winning the BetEasy Masters on home soil last November. So what has the left-hander been up to since that breakthrough victory which saw him hold off a fast-finishing Adam Scott? The answer is not much. Cullen’s only full-time playing status is on the Australasian Tour but at the start of the 2015 he decided to base himself in America and attempt to come through Monday qualifying at PGA Tour events. That hasn’t worked out so Cullen has made just five starts this year and just one since April. That came on the Japan Tour’s ISPS Handa Global Cup at the end of June where he withdrew with a hand injury after rounds of 72-70.

The Aussie left-hander is at least better prepared this time. Ahead of his Firestone appearance in August he’d played just once since April after failing to get starts and injuring a hand. However, he’ll head to Sheshan International Golf Club on the back of a third place in the Australasian Tour’s Fiji International while, prior to that, he’d made the cut and finished T59 in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. Cullen qualified for this week’s event after his shock victory in the BetEasy Australian Masters last November.

The 31-year-old is part of a strong Aussie presence on the leaderboard after the opening 18 holes although many of the names are unfamiliar. Cullen may register with overseas golf fans given that he appeared in two WGC events last year, a reward for winning his home BetEasy Australian Masters in late 2014. His lap of Lake Karrinyup today featured birdies at 11, 13, 16, 7 and 9 while his only dropped shot came at 18. Cullen, who piped 9 (of 14) fairways and hit 14 greens in regulation, is in a tie for fifth and just three shots behind R1 pacesetter Peter Uihlein. Previously at this week’s venue he’d cashed just once in three starts (T28 in 2013). He’d come into this week off the back of T18 at the Australasian Tour’s Victorian PGA Championship two weeks ago.

The Aussie is enjoying Golf Club Gut Larchenhof in Pulheim, Germany although after seven holes of his second circuit the idea of weekend contention seemed far away. But a second birdie-2 of the week at the 215-yard par-3 eighth put him in a good mood for the back nine and he capitalized. He went back-to-back in the red at 10 and 11, added a pair of birdie-4s at 13 and 15, and it was only a late bogey at 16 which marred the day. 185th on the Race to Dubai, with his best of the year of T12 last time out in the Belgian Knockout, he needs a good week.

The Aussie ranks only 188th on the Race to Dubai despite actually being 61st for Scoring Average. He boasts a strong all-round game (53rd SG: Off the Tee, 33rd Approach the Green, 41st Putting) with the exception of his scrambling (242nd Around the Green). He’s 5-for-6 but has only played very small purse events. His previous record in Germany is bizarrely mirrored, albeit in only two starts. In 2016 and 2018 he played the BMW International Open at Gut Larchenhof. Both times he shot 72 in round one, both times he went sub-70 in round two (for the only time in both weeks), he faded badly in both round threes, and limped home on the final day.

The lefty opened with a bogey-5 at the first hole at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne today, but rallied with an eagle-3 at the No. 4. He added four birdies to help offset two bogeys the rest of the way and posted 9-under 279. Fellow Aussies Josh Younger and former PGA TOUR member James Nitties also shared second place. Cullen started the week slotted 632nd in the Official World Golf Ranking. Thanks to his breakthrough on the PGA Tour of Australasia, he’ll vault to approximately 250th. In addition to the gold jacket, one of the perks he’ll collect is a tee time at Firestone Country Club’s South Course in the 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.