AUS OPEN: Day takes charge as Herbert holds firm

By

They call Saturday “moving day” and that’s exactly what the chasing pack did during the third round of the Emirates Australian Open in Sydney.

With overnight leader Lucas Herbert heaped with the pressure of being a tournament leader at 21 years of age, some big names emerged from a crammed leaderboard to set up a fascinating final round shootout with blustery conditions forecast.

Playing in the final group with Herbert, tournament drawcard Jason Day left it late to make his charge for a maiden Stonehaven Cup, parring the opening 13 holes before back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 ignited his round. A slip-up at 17 dropped him back to 9-under before a closing birdie at 18 saw him sign off for a 2-under 69 and a one-shot lead over Herbert.

Day’s supreme iron play was uncharacteristically off the mark, the former world No.1 missing several greens long and wide. But like all champions do, he ground out a respectable score and will be hard to beat tomorrow.

“I think the biggest thing for me tomorrow is if I can hit shoot anything in the 60s, I think that will help kind of seal the deal hopefully,” he said.

“I’d much rather be in this position than one stroke back.  I know that I’ve got a bunch of players behind me that are going to go out there and play their hardest tomorrow and potential could win, so I’ve got to be sharp.  I’ve got to stay focused and make sure that I keep pushing.”

Swede Jonas Blixt was the day’s big mover, carding a 5-under 66 to move within three shots of the lead at 7-under. Joining him was 2015 champion Matt Jones, who fired 3-under and is perfectly poised for a second tilt at the title in front of his local club members.

Heavily-backed Queenslander Cameron Smith is a shot further back at 6-under and will fancy his chances.

 

The Australian Golf Club bared her teeth for much of the day with several players doing their best to minimise the damage. “The course is winning,” quipped Seven Network commentator Grant Dodd as greens in regulation became a premium.

One of those feeling the pinch was Herbert, who battled manfully after trouble struck at the par-3 11th when he pulled his tee shot into greenside scrub.

After a search for his ball returned fruitless, the young Victorian had to march back to the tee to hit his third shot. He eventually putted out for a double-bogey that saw him drop back to 8-under.

The boy from Bendigo will hope it doesn’t turn out to be the defining moment of the 102nd championship. If his attitude post round is anything to go by, it shouldn’t.

“I was actually really happy to make three with the second ball,” Herbert confessed. “I didn’t need to get too stressed out about it. As I sort of proved, I scrambled really well all day, so I tried not to get too stressed about that and just make some more good swings coming in.”

World No.2 Jordan Spieth had another disappointing day with the putter, finishing at 1-under after a string of close calls on the greens.

“I struck just about every shot I hit today beautifully,” Spieth said after his round. “It was just a matter of capitalising. What’s weird to me are those mid-range putts. It’s one thing if they’re lipping out but quite a few of them today were missed significantly on bad reads, and that’s rare for me.”

Despite being nine shots off the pace, the man who shot 63 around this course in blustery conditions in 2014 – declared by some as the greatest round ever played in Australia – isn’t ruling out another spectacular finish.

“We need 8-under; that would probably be enough (to win) given the windy conditions forecast for tomorrow,” Spieth predicted. “We may not even need that much but it’s going to be so difficult tomorrow that I’ll go out and try to get under par early and just see what the golf course gets to.”

Round of the day went to Japanese amateur Takumi Kanaya, whose 6-under 65 included six birdies over his closing nine holes.

FINAL LEADERBOARD – DAY 3