OPEN: Aussies rue missed chances

BY BRENDAN JAMES at ROYAL TROON

AUSTRALIA’S winning drought at The Open Championship will drag on into a 24th year as our contingent rue the luck of the draw and missed chances to make an impression on the leaders in the third round.

As has been the case for the first three days, there were promising signs on the outward nine for each of the six Aussies who made the cut. But when they turned for home on the back nine, the strong left-to-right headwind caused havoc with bogies significantly outnumbering the birdies.

Jason Day plays a shot from the crowd on the 16th hole. He is T25 heading into the final round.
PHOTO: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

The most promising move came from World No.1 Jason Day, who made good on his promise to take an aggressive game plan into the third round.

Starting the 12 shots behind 36-hole leader Phil Mickelson, Day attacked the opening holes of the Royal Troon course taking high-risk playing lines to maximize the reward.

“That's kind of what you need to do there, especially being so far back,” Day said. “I was thinking if I could get to four or five-under for the day, that would definitely be closer to the lead depending on how Phil and Henrik and all those guys play. I was thinking if I get four or five, that would be very close, and then that gives me an opportunity for tomorrow.”

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His ‘take no prisoners’ approach yielded four birdies before the turn, which saw him briefly occupy a spot on the leaderboard just outside the top-10. Then he turned for the clubhouse and all the good work of the previous two hours was lost.

For three rounds, Troon’s treacherous homeward trek has had the better of Day.

The reigning US PGA Champion had 10 birdies on the front nine through 54 holes, and not one on the inward nine, which has inflicted seven bogies against four bogies on the front side.

“The 10th hole today with the bogey kind of stopped my momentum,” Day said. “It's obviously very hard to get momentum back up when you're playing that back side.

“I haven't had a birdie on the back side this week. Played it, I don't know how many over I've played; it's been terrible. That's why I'm not in the tournament right now.”

From day one, all the Australians – with the exception of Adam Scott – were fighting to stay in touch as a result of the weather. The leaderboard heading into the third round was dominated by players who played after lunch on Thursday, when the course was susceptible to good scoring, and were out early on Friday before strong winds and heavy rain hit Troon.

Adam Scott hits his tee shot on the 2nd after opening his third round with a double bogey.
PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images.

“That has a lot to do with it because I think the best score out of our (afternoon) wave Friday was two-under with Patrick Reed and Rory, and obviously the rest of the wave has played great golf, and that's why they're at the top of the leaderboard,” said Day, who will defend his Canadian Open and US PGA titles in the next few weeks.

“So there's obviously a little bit of luck that is involved with getting to the top as well as playing good golf. But once again, you get what you take and unfortunately that's just the way it is. You've just got to try and get yourself into contention.

“It's a tough golf course. But there's definitely a lot of opportunities out there. If you're playing well, you can give yourself the opportunities. But I think with Jordan (Spieth) and myself and Rory, we were on the other side and we didn't really have the opportunities or we didn't give ourselves the opportunities just because of the draw.”

The 28-year-old, with rounds of 73-70-71 to be one over, is the best placed of the Australians heading into the final round.

Sydney’s Matt Jones is the next best at four over after adding to his 69-73 opening rounds with a 75. The highlight of his round was a birdie two on the difficult Postage Stamp hole.

In contrast, Marc Leishman was one of the many victims of the diminutive par-3 on day three. The Victorian racked up a triple bogey six when his tee shot found one of the deep bunkers right of the small putting surface. Another bogey at the par-4 9^th saw the 32-year-old out in 40, but he played the back nine strongly registering nine straight pars to finish with a 75 and is five over.

Scott Hend's approach shot on the 2nd set up a birdie. PHOTO: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images.

Adam Scott is also at five over and will not look back at this championship fondly. The Queenslander, who was celebrating his 36^th birthday, was confident of being able move up the leaderboard on day three but the wind was sucked out of his sails with a double bogey at the par-4 1^st when his approach found a bunker and he ended the hole with three putts.

His round ended much the same way, with a double bogey, after his drive found a fairway trap and he was forced to lay-up. On the 16 holes between there were just two bogies, both on the front nine, and another three dropped shots. The six to close was the last straw in a frustrating few days for the 2013 Masters Champion.

Greg Chalmers (77) will start the final round at seven over, while Queensland’s Scott Hend (77) is a shot further back.

Hend opened his third round strongly with birdies at the 1^st and 3^rd holes but he gave both shots back at the 6^th and 7^th. On the back nine, he lost further strokes at the 10th, 11^th and 13^th holes before a triple bogey at the par-4 15^th added to his woes.