Matt Griffin capitalised on Min-Kyu Han's return to the field by grabbing the outright lead at the Australian PGA Championship.
The 26-year-old boldly declared after adding a three-under 68 to his opening 67 that he's ready to claim victory but he'll also be very aware that defending champion Geoff Ogilvy (66) and Stuart Appleby (69) are lurking just a shot back at minus-six with Jason Norris (67).
Although Australians Bronson La Cassie (69) and Scott Strange (70) both improved their overnight scores to five-under after 36 holes, Han failed to back up his amazing 62 yesterday as he had five bogeys in his final 10 holes en route to a 75.
Michael Curtain walked away with round-of-the-day honours late on after completing a 65 that saw him scorch home on the front nine in 30 strokes, drawing him level on four-under with Robert Allenby (68), Adam Scott (70), Greg Chalmers (70) and Shih-ching Chan (70) of Chinese Taipei.
Griffin gave no hint of the move he would make later in the day when he followed a pair of back-nine birdies with bogeys on both occasions but he picked up further shots at the fourth, fifth and eighth holes to grab the lead despite playing in the tougher afternoon conditions.
"Yeah it was tricky out there this afternoon, luckily on the first day we didn't get much wind," Griffin said.
"Today we probably had the tee time that got most of the wind, being right in the middle, the wind was all over the place out there."
Ogilvy got off to an encouraging start to his round with a birdie at the second only to then double-bogey the next but six birdies in a dozen holes from the fifth allowed him to make his presence felt as he soared up the leaderboard.
Two years after suffering horrific facial injuries falling from a bike on the Friday night after he'd missed the cut at Coolum, Norris said after collecting five birdies and a bogey that the venue 'owes' him.
"Doesn't matter what happens, if you have a great weekend it would be fantastic, it would be a good Christmas," Norris said.
"Obviously it would mean much more to me after a couple of years ago, I have never won a huge event and I plan on winning one before I give it away, I'd like to, definitely."
Han parred the first seven holes but wayward putting dropped him right back into the pack as he followed with five bogeys.
A day after both Allenby and Appleby had adventures in the water, Allenby having stepped in there with his trousers rolled up to the ankles and Appleby having thought he was going to fall in playing a shot on a bank, Allenby dispensed completely with his trousers at the third.
With his second shot he landed his ball on the bank lining the green but it rolled back and with his third, wearing only his boxer shorts and thigh-deep in the water, he got out of the hazard but still needed three more shots to complete a double-bogey after missing his eight-foot putt for bogey and lamented not finishing lower.
"I think four-under is fine but I wished I was a couple better, I think six (under) going into the weekend would have been a lot better but it just means that I have to make a lot of birdies over the last 36 holes," Allenby said.
No comments:
Post a Comment