[Photo: Golf NSW]

Defending champion and tournament drawcard Lucas Herbert was ecstatic to have squeaked out a solid first round to be in NSW Open contention despite competitive rust coming off a three-month tournament break.

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Herbert last played in competition at LIV Golf’s season finale in Michigan in August and took a well-earned hiatus to marry his new bride in the US in that break. He got back into the literal swing of things at the Ford NSW Open with an opening round of two-under-par 69 at The Vintage GC in the NSW Hunter Valley. Herbert sat three shots off the lead after round one, held at five-under by Lucas Higgins and Lachlan Barker (66). One shot back was the trio of Ben Henkel, Haydn Barron, and Dimi Papadatos.

Herbert teed off the 10th alongside Hunter Valley local Corey Lamb and rookie pro Declan O’Donovan before making his first birdie of the day at the long par-3 17th. He opened the front nine (his second nine), with two birdies before a bogey at the long par-4 third. He made six straight pars from there to post a 69 at the par-71 layout at The Vintage.

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Herbert hit a handful of uncharacteristically poor pitch shots and was glad to have carded a two-under score after almost 90 days off.

“That looked like I hadn’t played golf in three months,” Herbert said after his first round. “There were some shots I was really happy with, things I’d worked and have made progress. But then there was a lot of stuff I think you take for granted when you’re playing all the time … short game shots and pitch shots that are just not sharp when you haven’t played in a while.”

Herbert has won six times around the world, across the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and an Asian Tour event in Japan this year, as well as last year’s NSW Open. He said he’d love to put three more great rounds together at The Vintage GC and etch his name for a second time on the Kel Nagle Cup. Herbert has never defended a title in his professional career.

“Yeah, definitely, I see all these people that are two time, three time winner of tournaments and I’d like to be on that list,” Herbert said of a trophy that includes past champions such as four-time winner Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch and Nagle. “It’s a good opportunity for me to do it this week.”

The 29-year-old Herbert emphasised that the NSW Open was also important in analysing his game ahead of next month’s Australian Open at Royal Melbourne. It will be held at Royal Melbourne for the first time since 1991, with headliners such as Rory McIlroy, Cam Smith and Adam Scott. The 2025 Crown Australian Open will also offer the winner a place in the 2026 Masters at Augusta National and the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Victorian Herbert, from Bendigo, played his pennant golf on the Melbourne Sandbelt and wants nothing more than to win his national open on the jewel of his favourite golf region.

“I’ve got a fair bit of work to do in the next couple of weeks to get ready for Aussie Open, our mini major for the end of the year, which [the winner gets into] a couple of majors,” Herbert said. “I have work to do to get ready, but it was good to get around [The Vintage GC] with a scorecard in the pocket and to know where those areas of my game are at. It was really positive to have that scorecard be two under par and put me in a pretty good spot around a tough golf course for a golf tournament.”