The local Aussie Rules team is the beloved Sydney Swans, but it is a different type of Aussie rules at the Lakes GC, as 9 Australians are in the top 10, including the top 4 led by 40 year old veteran John Senden, long regarded as one of golf's premier ball strikers, who had 7 birdies and a holed out eagle for -9 63, -12 total. He is followed by the birthday boy, Jason Day 24, playing in front of friends and family who fired a -4 67 to stand second at -11.
They are followed by 2 lefties, Greg Chalmers 67,-10 and Nick O'Hearn 66 -9...
Tiger Woods you ask ?... Started with 3 straight bogey's, before a birdie at 4, then 2 bogey's at 11 and 12, he just missed an eagle at 14, settled for the birdie, parred in for an ugly +3 75, -6 total. He went from 1 ahead to 6 behind on a day when the wind was not nearly the factor it was in rounds 1 and 2, in fact the stroke average was 71.5..
He started off unluckily at the 1st when his approach was a just long and it rolled off the side of the green to leave him a difficult chip which he hit 20' past, 2 putts bogey. On #2 his approach from the adjacent fairway after a wild drive was long and went over the back of the green and he chipped it poorly some 35' past, 2 putts bogey.
Another poor pitch from short of the third hole that ran 20' past. 2 putt bogey.
He made a 7-foot birdie on the fourth, then lost more ground to the field as he made all pars until the 11th, after he missed a short birdie putt on 10.
He hooked his drive on No. 11, that bounced off a port-a-loo, he finally chipped it into the gallery then he hooked a rescue club into the fans again, made another poor pitch 50' away, 2 putts, bogey.
He then yanked his long iron approach into a bunker on No. 12 for another bogey. He made 34 putts as opposed to 29 in rounds 1 and 2, he pitched poorly, drove it wildly at times, and had some bad luck.. All adds up to +3 75...
Afterwards he said ''I just got off to an awful start. The round should have been an easy 71, no problem. I played the par 5s bad, I didn't take care of 13. But if I take care of the par 5s and make a couple of putts, it's a 1 or 2 under round. But I made nothing today.
Still the galleries are huge for him whether he shoots 65 or 85, Aussie fans only get to see him live once or twice a year, but their real bonus is the shoot out coming up with all those Aussies competing for their National championship, with Nick Watney at -9, Woods and Bubba at -6..
Should be quite a final round. Join me here and listen to me between 8-10am Sunday morning on the International Sports Report on TSN1050Radio.
click for live scoring http://www.pga.org.au/scores/683
click for final round pairings http://www.pga.org.au/teetimes/683
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles
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