Brad Kivimets and Bryce Hohnen share overnight lead at Wagga Pro-Am

WILD weather wreaked havoc with the opening day of the $50,000 Wagga Pro-Am. Portsea teaching professional Brad Kivimets and Sydneysider Bryce Hohnen share the overnight lead on four under par. The majority of the field failed to complete their opening round due to the weather and will return to the Wagga Country Club first thing on Friday morning to finish. Most only have a handful of holes to play so should be out on the course no longer than a hour, before the groups will be decided for the second and final round. Hohnen made the most of the calmer morning conditions to post his opening round 68 in the morning. It was a round that included an eagle, five birdies, a bogey and a double bogey. Kivimets, the co-leader, sits at four under after 13 holes. The disruptive weather while not ideal has set up an intriguing finish with only four shots separating the top 22 golfers. Big name visitors Peter Lonard and Paul Gow were both at even par when bad light suspended play at 7.10pm on Thursday. MORE SPORT NEWS Lonard, a winner on the US PGA Tour and one of the greats of Australian golf, found it a challenging opening day. "It was a bit of a struggle. I didn't play very well," Lonard said. "At the end of the day, you're just trying to get under par somewhere and hopefully (Friday) will be alright. "I got a little lucky because in the bows of my truck I found some thermals because I didn't even bring a jumper because last time I was here it was boiling hot. I suppose it was a different time of the year but. "From when we had that second stop, it dropped 10 degrees I reckon. But it was alright." Lonard believes he's in with a chance heading into the second day. "The course is mint, I reckon," he said. "A day like today you just get under par and come back tomorrow and see where you're at and whether you can have a bit of a run. "It's got a lot of holes that are birdie-able but they're still pretty tricky, pretty slopey, the pins are in the corner a bit so it's good, a good test." Wagga Country Club secretary-manager John Turner "It's been one of those days where it hasn't worked out," Turner said. "It started off as a beautiful day and as the morning group were finishing the wind started to blow up and then it got a bit stronger and the weather set in and then lightning came so we had to pull them off the course, put them back on later, then we had to pull them off again. "We persevered. It's a $50,000 36-hole event and that's what we discussed to try and complete. "It's not ideal but that's what we've had to do. "I think the weather improves tomorrow so we'll finish it off in the morning and we're going to have a great Friday afternoon and a hot contest. "It's just unfortunate what's happened today with the weather but we roll with the punches and make decisions in the best interests of all parties." Wagga hopes Matt Stieger and Charlie Pilon both sit at even par overnight with a few holes to play, as does previous champion Matt Millar. -4 Bryce Hohnen, Bradley Kivimets* -3 Brock Gillard -2 Ruben Lai, Cameron Kelly, Patrick Joseph*, Hayden Webb* -1 Daniel Gill, Lachlan Aylen, Harry McMillan, Aaron Maxwell* *Yet to complete first round Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: