Daniel Augustus headed straight for the practice green after a lacklustre display with the putter during the opening round of the New Hampshire Open yesterday.

The Bermudian professional struggled with his lines throughout his round at Stonebridge Country Club and had to settle for three-over-par 75 that left him tied for 28th in a field of 68.

He carded four bogeys and a double bogey at the par 4, 18th to go with the three birdies he made all on the back nine.

“Not happy with the way I putted at all,” Augustus said. “Putter was cold today.

“It was raining and blowing all day. But I don’t think I read one putt correctly and I will be doing a lot of putting on the practice green. Tomorrow will be better.”

Fletcher Babcock held a two-shot advantage over the rest of the field after the first 18 holes of the 54 -hole tournament.

Augustus is making his third appearance at the New Hampshire Open.

He finished tied for fourteenth among a field of 150 at four under at last year’s event held at the Owl’s Nest Resort & Golf Club where he signed off with a bang after firing a final round seven-under-par 65, the lowest round of the 54-hole tournament.

Augustus went into this week’s tournament with some momentum having finished tied for 19th in a field of 52 at the Greater Bangor Open held at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course in Maine at the weekend.

He started on the back foot after carding an opening round five-over-par 74 but bounced back with impressive back-to-back rounds of four under-par 65 and two-under-par 67 to finish the 54-hole event at one-under-par, 206.

“I got off to a bad start the first day but turned it around the second and third,” Augustus, who clinched his third straight title at last month’s Bermuda PGA Stroke Play Championships at Tucker’s Point, said.

Michael Kartrude won the tournament by four shots and with it the $7,000 winner’s purse.