Australian Open: James Nitties reaps rewards after consulting mind coach

Frustrated with cockroach-infested hotels, James Nitties went looking for answers about four months ago.

Australia’s James Nitties watches his tee shot at the ninth hole yesterday. ‘It’s been a pretty rough last three years golfing-wise.’

James Nitties went looking for ­answers about four months ago.

Frustrated with cockroach-­infested hotels and spending money on mini-tours in the US for little return, he sought the counsel of mind coach Steve Yellen, a man who works with famed swing guru David Leadbetter and professes to have developed a revolutionary training system that allows athletes to become more consistent.

Exhibit A — Nitties. On a day when birdies were on everyone’s menu, no one gorged at the buffet more than Nitties as he matched Adam Scott with the day’s lowest score, a second-round 65 that left him alone atop the Australian Open leaderboard at nine under. The chasing pack included recent PGA Tour winner Rod Pampling (67), who was three shots back alongside Scott. Pre-tournament favourite Jordan Spieth (70) was a further shot behind after spoiling his round with a double bogey at the par-four 15th.

Nitties swamped them all with a late charge through the field. A one-time reality television star on the Golf Channel series The Big Break, Nitties spent a year on the US PGA Tour in 2009. He pushed Tiger Woods all the way in the 2009 Australian Masters.

Then he lost his card and his game appeared to go with it, his cause not helped by the sudden death of his father and myriad ­injuries. Nitties kept plugging away, refusing to give up his dream of once again climbing golf’s mountain. His desire eventually led him to Yellen on the advice of his caddie, who had read Yellen’s book The Fluid Motion Factor: Understanding the Source of ­Exceptional Golf.

“It’s been a pretty rough last three years golfing-wise,” Nitties said. “You stay in hotels that have cockroaches running around. It’s funny when you’re a junior and you’re excited. As you get older and experience more, it’s a real battle. The courses are average on the mini-tour level. You have a battle with your mind. Now I don’t feel old, but I am the older guy. I love competing and competition but it gets a little rough.

“A lot of people work really hard and have middle-class jobs which make them work 60 hours a week. If I can work hard for four hours and get something out of it, it really changes your perspective.

“I really love my life. I love competing. I could not get up in the morning and not have something to work towards. It’s not a money thing for me. I just want to come out even every year.”

Yellen — whose Twitter handle reads: “I give out the fluid juice. Very tasty” — also works with athletes in major league baseball and the NFL.

“He teaches emptying your mind,” Nitties said. “When you play well, you don’t think of anything, you just do it. I have been playing so well for a long time but then I stressed. He gets you to empty your mind so it feels like you’re hitting an eight-iron into an ocean. You can’t miss. You just empty your brain and don’t stress.”

There’s no need to stress based on yesterday’s performance. For a long time it looked like Australian Open specialist Rhein Gibson (66) would hold the lead. As the afternoon went on, New Zealander Ryan Fox (68) assumed the front­running. Fox, the son of All Blacks legend Grant Fox, walked off the 18th as the clubhouse leader but only minutes later found himself relegated to second, albeit still withgenuine hopes of becoming the first Kiwi to win the Stonehaven Cup.

“I guess you guys are our biggest rivals in pretty much everything sport and it would certainly be nice to have a Kiwi name on the Stonehaven Cup,” Fox said. “There’s been a lot of great names on that and if I can add my name to them, it would be fantastic.”

Lurking with intent were Scott, Spieth and first-round leader Curtis Luck (71), whose day hit an early pothole when his ball lodged in a tree, forcing him to take a penalty.

Scott had few problems as he went on a birdie rampage on the front nine. As they stood on the first tee — Scott’s 10th hole of the day — caddie Steve Williams weighed in with a gentle prod.

“I said to Adam, this is the nine we have to shoot a good score,” Williams said. “That’s what a good caddie does. If you don’t post a good score on the front nine today you’re out of the tournament. It’s an important nine holes.”

What followed was four birdies and an eagle as Scott played the front nine in 30.