Wade Ormsby takes a two-shot lead into the final round of the ISPS Handa Vic Open after a testing day at 13th Beach Golf Links.
After very low scoring in the opening two rounds, high winds and some heavy rain made life far more difficult on Saturday, with Ormsby recovering from an early double-bogey to card a two-under par round of 70 and move to 15 under par.
Ormsby claimed his first European Tour title at the 264th time of asking at last season’s UBS Hong Kong Open en route to finishing a career-high 48th on the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex. The 38 year old Australian is now eying a second title just over a year later on home soil.
His countryman Matthew Stieger, who teed off in the first group, recorded the round of the day with a stunning 65 to sit at 13 under par alongside England’s Callum Shinkwin, who signed for an impressive 66.
Challenge Tour graduate David Law of Scotland, South African Justin Harding and Australia’s Brad Kennedy are three shots off the lead at 12 under par. Australian David Bransdon, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Irishman Paul Dunne are one shot further back at 11 under par.
The innovative ISPS Handa Vic Open is making its first appearance on the Race to Dubai, with men and women playing over the same layouts in separate tournaments for equal prize money.
The two fields of 156 players teed off in alternating groups over the Beach and Creek courses in the first two rounds, with the action taking place on the Beach layout over the weekend. After a second cut at the end of round three, each field is cut to 35 players and ties.
In the women’s event, American Kim Kaufman had a late stumble but takes a two-shot lead into the final round after moving to ten under par with a round of 75. Celine Boutier of France matched the lowest round of the day with a 69 to sit alongside home favourite Su Oh at eight under par.
Player quotes
Wade Ormsby:
“I made a bit of a meal of it straight out of the box. It was just tough out there. Warming up we knew it was going to be a really tough day, trying to find a way to keep the ball down. I just kept grinding really. That’s all we can do in weather like that. You’re going to hit a lot of bad shots, need to recover a lot and I did that quite well, so I’m happy.
“There is a little bit of margin around here. The greens are still soft. I said to my caddie if the greens were firm, that would have been a debacle out there. But the greens are soft enough that if you hit good shots, you’ll still get rewarded, so it was okay.
“Depends what the weather gives up tomorrow. If it’s calm, you have to keep going low. If it’s like this, you have to keep on grinding. We’ll see what it’s like in the morning and go out there and try my best.”
Matthew Stieger:
“We got hammered with the rain for about three or four holes there, so it was really good to get through that stretch. No bogeys today, which is really nice. Just stuck to my game plan out there. Sort of had to hit away from a few flags because they were tucked a little bit, but made really good use of the ones that I could go at.
“I’ve got a redemption to do; 2014 I got beat in a playoff here, so sort of hopefully try to get into a position like that again and see how we go.”
David Law:
“It was playing really difficult. 17, for example, we had it playing a four-club wind. You needed to hang in, you needed to be in control of your ball and get a bit lucky at times and hole some putts, which luckily I did.
“You needed to be patient. And luckily it’s a links-style golf course, you can run the ball in, which I’m used to doing. You need to be patient, you need to know any small mistake is going to get exaggerated in the wind. So as long as you accept that sometimes bogey is not that bad a score, you’ll be okay.”
Round three scores
201 W Ormsby (Aus) 65 66 70;
203 C Shinkwin (Eng) 64 73 66; M Stieger (Aus) 71 67 65;
204 D Law (Sco) 67 66 71; B Kennedy (Aus) 67 65 72; J Harding (RSA) 67 71 66;
205 P Dunne (Irl) 69 66 70; D Bransdon (Aus) 69 69 67; N Colsaerts (Bel) 66 71 68;
206 A Townsend (Aus) 69 69 68; N Flanagan (Aus) 62 68 76; G Forrest (Sco) 65 69 72; J Scrivener (Aus) 64 66 76; D Drysdale (Sco) 66 69 71; J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 70 68; B Windred (am) (Aus) 70 67 69;
207 A Karlsson (Swe) 65 69 73; C Sordet (Fra) 69 64 74; D Gavins (Eng) 68 68 71; J Felton (Aus) 71 68 68;
208 N Cullen (Aus) 66 67 75; D Nisbet (Aus) 68 70 70; A Chesters (Eng) 68 67 73;
209 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 68 70; M Nixon (Eng) 71 68 70; G Ogilvy (Aus) 66 72 71; J Norris (Aus) 66 71 72; G Moynihan (Irl) 67 72 70; M Griffin (Aus) 65 69 75; S Jeffress (Aus) 69 69 71; J Anstiss (Nzl) 64 71 74; M Fraser (Aus) 70 66 73; T Aiken (RSA) 69 70 70; A Rai (Eng) 67 69 73; M Hoey (Nir) 66 68 75; D Micheluzzi (am) (Aus) 67 68 74;
210 A Evans (Aus) 68 67 75; S Kim (USA) 71 68 71; H Leon (Chi) 64 72 74; S Manley (Wal) 66 71 73; S Vincent (Zim) 68 70 72; A Burdett (Aus) 72 67 71; M Sim (Aus) 66 70 74; R Fox (Nzl) 66 68 76; L Herbert (Aus) 65 69 76; P Lonard (Aus) 66 72 72; D Perry (Aus) 68 71 71; Y Ikeda (Jpn) 66 71 73;
211 R Green (Aus) 72 66 73; D Beck (Aus) 67 70 74; K Reitan (Nor) 72 67 72; A Connelly (Can) 70 68 73; A Dodt (Aus) 67 71 73; C Syme (Sco) 71 67 73; M Kawamura (Jpn) 68 70 73;
212 S Brazel (Aus) 69 69 74; R Macintyre (Sco) 67 70 75; L De Jager (RSA) 67 69 76; J Morrison (Eng) 68 69 75; E Kofstad (Nor) 71 65 76; K Koivu (Fin) 66 72 74;
213 J Nitties (Aus) 64 74 75; A Otaegui (Esp) 70 69 74; M Hendry (Nzl) 68 66 79; M Long (Nzl) 66 73 74; M Jager (Aus) 66 66 81; D Williamson (Aus) 68 71 74;
214 M Antcliff (Aus) 67 71 76; A Hall (Aus) 71 66 77; T Macdonald (Aus) 68 70 76; A Martin (Aus) 68 71 75;
215 S Hend (Aus) 69 67 79; A Pike (Aus) 66 70 79; M McCardle (Aus) 68 71 76; A Lautee (am) (Aus) 65 72 78;
216 K Kitayama (USA) 64 74 78;
217 J Mullaney (Aus) 67 69 81;
218 P Cooke (Aus) 65 71 82; S Leaney (Aus) 69 70 79;
Z Murray (Aus) 68 70 DQ;
