Prom Meesawat signed for a 67 to finish top of the leaderboard after three days of stroke play at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth.
Play on Sunday will switch to match play, with five rounds of six hole knockout matches to determine who will win the second staging of this revolutionary event at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.
Thai Meesawat will have a bye into the last 16 after finishing at 12 under, two shots clear of Dane Thorbjørn Olesen, American Sean Crocker and Australian Lucas Herbert, with the draw for tomorrow’s match play to be announced at 7:45pm local time on European Tour digital channels.
Englishman Sam Horsfield, Japan’s Yisaku Miyazato, and Australians Brad Kennedy and Dimitrios Papadatos secured the other four first-round byes after finishing at eight under. There was then a further eight players safely through to the Super 6, with nine players at five under going into a play-off for the final eight spots.
Australian Marcus Fraser and Scot Grant Forrest finished at seven under, a shot clear of Australians Nick Cullen, Ben Eccles, Matthew Millar and James Nitties, amateur Woo Min Lee and Thai Pavit Tangkamolprasert.
In the play-off, Italian Andrea Pavan, South Korean Yikeun Chang, Australian Callan O’Reilly and Thai Poom Saksansin all made par and had to wait to see what the next group up the 18th would do.
South African Zander Lombard, Australian Stephen Leaney and Japanese Satoshi Kodaira all also made par as those seven players secured their spots for Sunday, with Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Australian Anthony Quayle making bogeys after failing to get up and down from bunkers.
Both players made par on the next trip – with Aphibarnrat having to get up and down from the front of the green – and then played the hole in almost identical fashion at the third attempt.
The duo ended up next to each other in front of the green after two shots at the next attempt and Aphibarnrat chipped to tap-in range and advanced to Sunday after Quayle failed to make par.
Player Quotes
Prom Meesawat: “I just try to put myself, put the ball in a good position. This course, when you miss on the wrong side, you get into real trouble. I did well for last two days, I missed only a couple shots to put myself in the top position. Very happy to finish first but still a lot of golf for tomorrow, and I think it’s going to be good fun.
“I’ve got a good chance. Like what I said, match play, everything can happen. Like last year, last guys got in and he just knocked everyone and get to the final. So you never know. I’m going to try to be like Rummy, he finished first and then winning the tournament, so that’s what my goal.
“I have to see how strong but I still do the same thing. You know, this week I’m comfortable in my putting. This is what I want to do because if you hit a good shot, you didn’t make a putt, you can’t score.”
Thorbjørn Olesen: “I came right out of the block and played well, especially the first few holes. It’s always nice to start well, especially when it’s this windy and it’s very tricky. So a few bad shots on the back nine and a few bad putts, but that’s easy to do when it’s this windy.
“We (Lucas Bjerregaard) played the GolfSixes so that’s pretty good. Obviously, I had a nice partner there, now I’m on my own. I think I’m a pretty good match player. I’m a good putter, I drive the ball well, so that’s two key things in match play, so hopefully I can go out there and drain a few putts.”
Sean Crocker: “I’m excited. Played well today, played solid, and it’s nice to be able to have a little bye into the second round. I really enjoy the golf course. It suits well to my eye off the tee, which helps, and when I’m driving it well, it makes it a little bit easier to score and hit shots closer out here.
“It’s different because usually in match play you’ve got 18 holes and there’s a lot of ups and downs, but with six holes, it seems whoever gets off to the hot start’s probably going to win the match.”
Lucas Herbert: “Hit it pretty poorly off the tee to be fair. Sort of found a little bit on the back nine there to be able to close it out the way I did. Yeah, just really pleasing that the quality of game I’ve got, put me tied for second after stroke play.
“I lost first round last year, so it will be interesting to sort of work out a bit of a plan tonight and then hopefully execute tomorrow morning.”
Round three scores
204 P Meesawat (Tha) 67 70 67,
206 T Olesen (Den) 70 67 69, L Herbert (Aus) 68 69 69, S Crocker (USA) 70 69 67,
208 Y Miyazato (Jpn) 70 70 68, D Papadatos (Aus) 69 73 66, S Horsfield (Eng) 68 72 68, B Kennedy (Aus) 69 72 67,
209 G Forrest (Sco) 69 68 72, M Fraser (Aus) 68 74 67,
210 N Cullen (Aus) 72 68 70, B Eccles (Aus) 72 69 69, M Millar (Aus) 73 70 67, J Nitties (Aus) 66 76 68, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 70 71 69, M Lee (am) (Aus) 69 70 71,
211 P Saksansin (Tha) 71 73 67, Y Chang (Kor) 67 73 71, A Quayle (Aus) 71 68 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 72 72, S Kodaira (Jpn) 70 71 70, C O’Reilly (Aus) 72 71 68, Z Lombard (RSA) 68 70 73, A Pavan (Ita) 73 66 72, S Leaney (Aus) 69 72 70,
212 R Fox (Nzl) 70 73 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 67 73 72, J Scrivener (Aus) 67 73 72, J Edfors (Swe) 71 73 68, D Bransdon (Aus) 71 70 71, S Vincent (Zim) 73 71 68, A Rai (Eng) 71 73 68,
213 R Allenby (Aus) 72 72 69, J Guerrier (Fra) 74 67 72, S Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 71 71 71, M Schwab (Aut) 71 72 70, N Fung (Mas) 67 76 70, J McLeod (Aus) 72 70 71, R Evans (Eng) 70 74 69,
214 T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 72 71, L Westwood (Eng) 66 70 78, D Kataoka (Jpn) 67 75 72, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 74 72, P Angles (Esp) 71 73 70, C Crawford (Aus) 73 70 71, R Green (Aus) 69 73 72, S Gros (Fra) 67 77 70, B Rumford (Aus) 64 72 78,
215 J Todd (USA) 73 71 71, S Brown (Eng) 72 70 73, G Paddison (Nzl) 67 76 72, J Wilson (Aus) 73 67 75, J Zunic (Aus) 72 71 72, L Canter (Eng) 72 72 71, C Mivis (Bel) 71 73 71, J Higginbottom (Aus) 74 70 71, J Marchesani (Aus) 73 71 71,
216 A Blyth (Aus) 73 66 77, C Koepka (USA) 70 74 72, J Felton (Aus) 69 74 73, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 72 70 74, M Griffin (Aus) 70 72 74, S Han (USA) 68 73 75, P Fowler (Aus) 74 70 72,
217 C Ford (Eng) 69 73 75, H Tanihara (Jpn) 74 70 73, D Fox (Aus) 69 72 76, R Cho (Kor) 73 71 73, A Knappe (Ger) 75 68 74, J Girrbach (Sui) 72 72 73, A Dodt (Aus) 71 73 73, J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 74 75,
218 T Sinnott (Aus) 72 72 74, J Dantorp (Swe) 71 73 74, A Price (Aus) 72 72 74, A Bland (Aus) 73 70 75,
219 B Neil (Sco) 71 73 75, D Lipsky (USA) 68 76 75,
220 M Foster (Eng) 71 72 77,
221 A Connelly (Can) 69 74 78,
145 S Jeffress (Aus) 71 74 0, T Macdonald (Aus) 69 76 0, V Perez (Fra) 74 71 0, J Kruger (RSA) 72 73 0, M Guyatt (Aus) 72 73 0, A Da Silva (Bra) 71 74 0, P Peterson (USA) 74 71 0, M Brown (Nzl) 69 76 0, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 74 0,
146 M Stieger (Aus) 76 70 0, G Bhullar (Ind) 71 75 0, S Fernandez (Esp) 72 74 0, M Hendry (Nzl) 71 75 0, J Veerman (USA) 72 74 0, T Lewis (Eng) 73 73 0, B Coletta (Aus) 73 73 0, P Lonard (Aus) 72 74 0, M Armitage (Eng) 74 72 0, T Kaewsiribandit (Tha) 71 75 0, T Murray (Eng) 71 75 0, D Stewart (Sco) 74 72 0, A Sandhu (Ind) 73 73 0, A Saddier (Fra) 73 73 0, L Gagli (Ita) 71 75 0,
147 S Hawkes (Aus) 75 72 0, D Boonma (Tha) 73 74 0, C Syme (Sco) 76 71 0, A Vongvanij (Tha) 72 75 0, D Pearce (Nzl) 75 72 0, S Heisele (Ger) 75 72 0, J Geary (Nzl) 74 73 0, B Henson (USA) 74 73 0,
148 G Stal (Fra) 73 75 0, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 73 75 0, C Blomstrand (Swe) 75 73 0, N Geyger (Chi) 73 75 0, J Younger (Aus) 74 74 0, B Evans (Eng) 75 73 0,
149 A Johnston (Eng) 73 76 0, M Schneider (Ger) 77 72 0, S Kapur (Ind) 75 74 0, M Nixon (Eng) 71 78 0, D Smail (Nzl) 77 72 0, B Rankin (Aus) 79 70 0, J Colomo (Esp) 72 77 0, D Nisbet (Aus) 73 76 0, N Kimsey (Eng) 75 74 0, A Townsend (Aus) 75 74 0, R McEvoy (Eng) 73 76 0,
150 J Thomson (Eng) 75 75 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 73 77 0, G Porteous (Eng) 74 76 0, N O’Hern (Aus) 76 74 0, N Srithong (Tha) 70 80 0, A Meronk (Pol) 75 75 0, A Cañizares (Esp) 73 77 0,
151 P O’Malley (Aus) 76 75 0, B Campbell (Nzl) 73 78 0, M Baldwin (Eng) 74 77 0, J Heath (Eng) 79 72 0, D Willett (Eng) 76 75 0, J Norris (Aus) 74 77 0, L Yanwei (Chn) 81 70 0,
152 D Brandt-Richards (Aus) 73 79 0, D Beck (Aus) 71 81 0, D Lawson (Aus) 71 81 0, M Long (Nzl) 79 73 0, P Widegren (Swe) 73 79 0, D Jordan (Aus) 72 80 0, P Wilson (Aus) 73 79 0, S Yates (Sco) 79 73 0, F Aguilar (Chi) 73 79 0,
154 T Smyth (Aus) 80 74 0,
156 B Leong (Mas) 77 79 0, N Holman (Aus) 79 77 0,
** S Rahman (Ban) 80 WD 0,
