New Zealander Michael Hendry has taken the first round lead with 6-under-par 65 at the Victorian Open. Teeing off in the morning field Hendry got off to a shaky starting with a bogey on the 1st yet went on to post nine birdie in his first round. “I started with a bogey and finished with a bogey but in between was pretty solid,” said Hendry.

Coming back from the Christmas break a refreshed Hendry is one shot cleat of veteran Craig Parry heading into the second round. “I think a holiday did me good, I was getting a bit stale at the end of last year and was playing pretty bad.” “I haven’t done much over the break and all of a sudden I have been able to not worry about bad shots and just keep playing.”

If today’s round is an indicator Hendry looks to have returned to the form that saw him have a breakthrough year in 2010, highlighted by a win at the Indonesia Open on the OneAsia tour.

“Today was solid but I wasn’t hitting the ball great, especially off the tee but I hit a lot of really good iron shots and my putting was good today. “Hopefully I can continue tomorrow the way I did today.”

Having taken advantage of the morning conditions and overcoming blisters was Craig Parry. “It was quite fortunate that the wind wasn’t blowing, you just had to hit on the greens, and they were rolling true so I made the most of it.” “I had a lot of discomfort with the blisters but beware the injured golfer,” joked Parry.

With a 5-under the card 66, Parry showed why he has been such a prolific winner over his career. “My short game was pretty good today and my putting was really good, I don’t class that as one of my strengths but today it was really good.”

Sitting a further shot back at 3-under is 24-year-old Rika Batibasaga from Queensland. The later conditions proved to be a challenge for the afternoon field with just Max McCardle finishing under par.

The second round of the Victorian Open will tee off at Spring Valley Golf Club tomorrow from 7.00am.

The first round of the Women's Victorian Open will tee off at Woodlands Golf Club tomorrow at 9am.

Since 1957, the Victorian Open has provided a springboard for some of Victoria’s golfing greats including some of this country’s best golfers, Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley and Geoff Ogilvy. This year’s Victorian Open is the first event on the 2012 PGA Tour of Australasia’s schedule and on the back of the successful staging of the 2011 JBWere Masters and The Presidents Cup, builds on Victoria’s reputation as a premier golfing destination.

The 2012 Men’s Victorian Open starts at Spring Valley Golf Club on Thursday with the Women’s Victorian Open to start on Friday at the Woodlands Golf Club before continuing over the weekend in conjunction with the Men’s Open at Spring Valley.

Admission to Woodlands for the first round of the Women’s Open is free while entry to all days of the 2012 Vic Open at Spring Valley is just $8 for a daily adult ticket or $15 for a season pass across the four days. Juniors under 18 years of age are free on all days of the Championship.

The 2012 Men’s and Women’s Victorian Opens are proudly supported by the State Government of Victoria and the City of Kingston with major corporate partners Schweppes, Tabcorp, Drummond Golf, Industrial Workforce and Trader Classified.