Min Woo Lee – the legend grows at the Australian Golf Club – image Golf Australia

Min Woo Lee and Ryuka Hoshino will continue their competitive rivalry when they take a share of the lead into the final round of the Australian Open at the Australian Golf Club tomorrow. That only tells a small part of what was a thrilling third day.

With calm, overcast conditions dominating much of the day at the during round three, it was clear an opportunity existed for anyone making the 2 under par cut to play their way into contention perhaps even before the leaders had hit off around 1.00pm.

That would prove to be very much the case with several very low rounds posted nearly two hours ahead of the final few groups even reaching the first tee.

Those rounds of 65 by American Sean Crocker and South Australian Adam Bland served notice of what was to come and that the remainder of the day could well witness some massive swings and roundabouts on the leaderboard and that even Min Woo Lee who had seemed almost impregnable at the top of the leaderboard was not safe from attack.

Lee would, though, hit a stunning shot to the first to extend his lead to four although his playing partner Connor Syme hit back immediately with a fine iron to the par three 2^nd to get back within three.

At the par 4 3rd, however, Lee would find the water with his 2^nd, took a double bogey and the gap was just one over Syme.

Others were joining the party however and as the day wore on first it was Lucas Herbert, then Lismore’s Sam Brazel and the man who challenged Lee before finishing second at last week’s PGA championship Rikuya Hoshino would emerge as genuine contenders for the title.

When Hoshino eagled the 15^th and Lee bogeyed the 10^th after chunking his third from behind the green, all of a sudden that four-shot early lead had disappeared and the pair was tied at 12 under and one ahead of Syme, who had taken full advantage of Lee’s mistake with a birdie of his own at the 10th, and Herbert, whose round of 66 moved him within one of the lead after starting the day six shots from Lee.

Herbert completed his round in 67 to be just one from the lead at that point.

Others were making their moves also with two-time winner of the event at the Australian Golf Club,  Matt Jones, moving to 9 under and within three of the lead when he finished his round.

American Patrick Rodgers struggled early in his round but after making the turn he added birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th to join the lead along with Lee and Hoshino.

The younger brother of 2022 US Open Champion, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Alex was also moving in the right direction to be within just two of the lead late in his round so the final hour or so of play were to prove crucial in just who would claim ascendency heading into the final round tomorrow.

Fitzpatrick would close with a homeward nine of 30 to join those at 12 under one behind Hoshino who had made one last birdie at the last to take the lead ahead of Rodgers, Lee and soon after Fitzpatrick, but back on the course there was a lot yet to unfold before the 54-hole standings were finalised.

Rodgers joined Hoshino in the lead with a birdie at the 16th before a bogey at the 17th left him with a round of 68 and just one back of the lead held by Hoshino and Lee who saved his first birdie of the back nine to the last when he holed from 15 feet for birdie to move to 13 under and share the lead.

“Yeah, it was a bit of a grind,” said Lee.  “It wasn’t the easiest of rounds like the last five I’ve played.  But golf is golf.  I felt like I got a little unlucky with some lip-outs towards the end, but it is what it is.  Again, I hit some decent shots and hit some poor ones, but yeah, it was nice to make an up and down from a pretty average lie in that bunker.  Yeah, it was great to get the, I guess, momentum and hopefully I can bring it on to tomorrow.  But yeah, happy.

“Obviously, it is towards the end of the year and last round of the year is tomorrow, but it’s just another reason to give it my all before I take a break.  I’m pretty happy with the game and I feel fine.  So yeah, hopefully tomorrow’s good.”

Hoshino, backed up his fine runner-up finish last week in Queensland with yet another fine effort.

“This is the first time to come over here to Australia for me and I can enjoy this atmosphere and also this tournament,” said the Japanese star.  “So that’s why I think I’m playing well I guess.”

“Tomorrow I’m going to use many experiences of winning tournaments in Japan and also my goal is winning this DP World Tour this year, this past win, so I’m going to make it the winning and try to do my best.”

And so tomorrow 11 players begin the final round within four shots of the lead and, if today is anything to go by, then each, and every one, will likely feel they have a realistic chance of taking the Stonehaven Cup, perhaps even along with a few more.

Ashleigh Buhai holds a commanding lead over Jiya Shin heading into final round – photo Golf Australia

In the Women’s Australian Open, the defending champion Ashleigh Buhai was impressive as she overtook the overnight leader, Jiya Shin with a third round of 65 to lead by three over Shin with Australia’s Minjee Lee improving sharply with a round of 67 to be alone in 3rd place at 5 under and seven from the lead.

Shin had begun with a two-shot lead but with four consecutive birdies to start by Buhai, the 2022 Women’s AIG Open Champion, she had taken the lead and never let up, eventually leading by three into tomorrow’s final round shootout.

The All Abilities Championship was won by Lachlan Wood from Hervey Bay in Queensland where is is the Associate Professional at Hervey Bay Golf Club.

“So 12 months ago I was no one, I had no world ranking, I had no position in all abilities,” said Wood. “I’d only just heard about how to get into the system.  I’d known about it and watched it for years, but I never knew how to actually get into the system. This 12 months I’ve gone from no one to probably six, seven, eight victories and then today.”

“I started golf when I was really young.  One of my mates who’s playing in the main field today got me into it when we were at school.  Then yeah, got down, nearly got as good as him and had a car accident and then yeah, our lives went separate ways for about 10 years and then we’re back here together at the same event.”

“I feel great, yeah.  It’s a good event.  I’m happy to be here. First time playing the course, first time playing the event.  It’s such a well-run event.  Golf Australia do an amazing job. They’ve looked after us really well this week and yeah, treated us special.”

The All Abilities Champion Lachlan Wood – image Golf Australia

LEADERBOARD

Cam Davis plays his tee shot at the par 3 15th at the Lakes this morning – image Australian Golf Media

2017 champion Cam Davis burst from the gates on day one of the ISPS Handa Australian, racing to the turn in his opening round at the Lakes Golf Club in 6 under par 31 and building on that on his way to the clubhouse with a final nine of 32 for his round of 63 to lead by one at the completion of play over both the Lakes and Australian Golf Clubs.

Davis, who was a member of the Monash Golf Club in Sydney during his amateur days before settling in Seattle once established in the USA, looks to add to the Australian Open he won as a 22-year old in 2017 at the Australian Golf Club, and, tomorrow, he gets the chance to play the second of the venues this week and the venue which saw his remarkable win six years ago.

“I made a couple of more nice putts today to get that score heading down, but it was a really solid round of golf,” said Davis.  “I know this place relatively well, so I felt like I had plenty of good memories in the bank to go out and play the course with. That’s by far the cleanest round I’ve ever had around here and without the wind, it was awesome to make the most of the conditions the way they were.”

When asked how this leaves him in regards to contending over the weekend especially given the rest of the week, for him, will be back at the Australian Golf Club, Davis responded;

“Well the start here was a key.  You want to make the most of good conditions out here, because there is the opportunity to go low, so very happy with the start and now it’s just about finding rhythm out there.

“It’s a different golf course, different grass, probably different conditions today, as well for the rest of the week.  So you’ve just got to start all over again pretty much and try and find your rhythm and if you do, get three rounds in a row now at the same place and get used to the sidelines and fingers crossed some more good play.  I’d love to be right up there on Sunday.”

Davis leads by one over PGA Tour player and American Patrick Rodgers who has yet to win on the PGA tour but who has been four times runner-up in events and as a player inside the top 100 in the world, he clearly has the credentials of doing well as the week evolves.

“It’s been a while since I’ve played,” said Rodgers after his round of 64. “I’ve been taking advantage of the off-season over in the States and this was a perfect opportunity to come down here.  I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. I haven’t been down here since 2014 and had an amazing experience back then, so yeah, it’s great to be back and great to kick off some rust in a nice fashion in round 1.”

16 year old Rachel Lee – image Australian Golf Media

The women’s Australian Open had a surprise early leader in Avondale Golf Club member, Rachel Lee, who only just made it into the field via qualifying on Monday.

Lee nearly missed her tee time this morning after mistaking her 8.28 time for what she thought was 8.38 and she was only reminded while on the putting green by her coach that she needed to get to the tee.

Lee avoided the worst of the weather which hit briefly as she was finishing off her round but she and American Jenny Shin with rounds of 67, lead a high-class field including several major championship winners such as Minjee Lee, Jiyai Shin, Ashleigh Buhai and Hannah Green.

Interestingly Lee suggested a practice round with Jiyai Shin, earlier in the week, assisted her with some thoughts on how to play especially the Australian Golf Club which she tackles tomorrow.

“She was telling me to challenge myself and shape shots, I used them quite a fair bit today and it worked out really well,” said Lee.

Jenny Shin played late in the day and was amongst the last few groups to finish in the women’s field at the Australian Golf Club. Her bogey-free round of 66 was particularly impressive given she played in the afternoon conditions.

Former winner of this title and prolific winner internationally, Jiyai Shin, is alone in second place and one behind the leaders.

Another shot back is Sydney’s Stephanie Kyriacou and defending champion Ashleigh Buhai while Australia’s number one female golfer, Minjee Lee recovered from a slow start to finish with a round of 3 under par 70 and finds herself just three shots from the lead.

All  Scores 

Smith during today’s pro am – image Australian Golf Media

It was a case of getting back on the horse for Cam Smith at the Aust Open today when he played in the Pro-Am as his final preparation for an attempt to win his national open for the first occasion.

Smith went very close to winning the event in 2016 when he was defeated in a playoff by Jordan Spieth as a 23-year-old at Royal Sydney and he looks to get his hand on the Stonehaven Cup to go with his three Australian PGA Championships in addition to the other significant titles he has won worldwide.

Smith arrived at the Australian Golf Club off the back of a disastrous and almost inexplicable week at Royal Queensland last week where he missed the cut by a massive nine shots after a second round of 78.

Not surprisingly, there is scar tissue for Smith after performing so poorly in front of friends and family in Brisbane last week, especially when, as the defending champion and after another successful year internationally, so much was expected.

“Yeah, it was a very frustrating week,” said Smith. “Obviously the game didn’t feel good.  It was pretty upsetting to play like that at home, not only in Australia but in my hometown.  I had lots of friends and family there hoping for another good week, but it wasn’t to be.

“It is definitely a different type of pressure playing at home.  I think you expect to kind of play well because it is home and I’ve always kind of put that pressure on myself and I’d like to think that I’ve had a pretty good kind of Australian career.

“So lots of hard work over the weekend with my coach, Grant. We hit a lot of balls, worked on the right stuff and the game’s feeling pretty good this week.

“The two courses here are pretty challenging, so it’ll be an interesting one, but I just need to go out there and trust and commit to what I’m doing.

“I guess it’s easy to lose confidence with rounds like that, but I’ve been playing pretty good golf the last 7 or 8 months and it’s easy to look at it as just another round, but at the same time, it hurts the confidence a little bit.

“Yeah, like I said, just got to get back to what I know and what I know I can do.  The old saying of one swing can change a round, I think over the weekend it’s definitely changed how I felt about my game.  I’m looking forward to it.

“A couple of weeks ago I was competing to win the Hong Kong Open and I thought I was playing pretty decent golf and a couple of weeks later it was at the other end of the spectrum.  It’s pretty weird how it can change that quickly, but yeah, it’s a crazy game sometimes.  Just as you think you’ve got it, you don’t and then sometimes when you think you don’t have it, you’re finishing in the top 5 or top 10.  So it’s a crazy game.”

Smith gave the impression that while he is happy with the progress he has made with the work put in over the weekend, there is still a level of uncertainty as to where things are at and it won’t be fully tested until he gets a pencil and scorecard in his hand.

“The game’s definitely feeling better than it did last week.  I just need to go out there tomorrow and really commit to what I’m doing.  It’s easy to break back into those habits, so going out there, committing and hitting a few good shots, I think that confidence will build as the week goes on.

“I wouldn’t say my confidence is at 100 percent, but like I said, there’s no reason I can’t go out there and be competitive.  It only takes a few good shots and a few good feels and all of a sudden you’re looking at yourself at the top of the leaderboard.”

When asked what winning his own national open would mean to him Smith had no hesitation in responding.

“It means everything.  I think growing up as a kid you want to win your National Open.  I was fortunate enough to watch a couple of Aussie Opens down here as a teenager and play in a bunch as well.

“So, it’s always created a really good opportunity for me to learn as a young professional and I think just growing up watching it, you want to win it.  Yeah, it’s on the radar.  It has been for a while and I think I’ve been close a couple of times, which makes it – you want it that little bit extra, which sometimes can be detrimental.  But, yeah, I just need to go out there and really commit to what I’m doing.”

Cam Davis – in Sydney today – image Australian Golf Media

Sydney golfer, Cam Davis, continually flies under the radar amongst the elite of Australian golfers at present but there is little doubt that his ever-building record and that he is the 2017 Australian Open Champion at this week’s venue deserve serious consideration when identifying a potential winner of this week’s event..

Even with the likes of Cam Smith, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee likely to steal the early headlines amongst the Australians in this week’s field, there is little doubting the credentials Davis has to repeat his brilliant victory as a 22-year-old when recording a final round of 64 to win by one over Jonas Blixt and a man who would become a two-time winner of the same event Matt Jones.

Davis’s amateur career was outstanding, winning the Australian Amateur Championship in 2015, the Eisenhower Team and Individual trophy in 2016, and recording two near misses at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship.

Both his Australian Open victory and the Australian Amateur Championship were won at the Australian Golf Club.

Davis turned professional late in 2016 and has been slowly but very surely building platforms for himself each and every year, beginning first in Canada, then the Buy.Com Tour and in 2019 graduating to the PGA Tour.

He won the Rocket Mortgage event in July of 2021 and has finished inside the top 60 in the FedEx Cup table each year since, in addition to making the Presidents Cup team for the first occasion in 2022.

When asked at last week’s Australian PGA Championship how he assessed his own progress since turning professional Davis responded as follows.

“A big one for me and one that I’m trying to maintain as long as I can is feeling like I’m a better golfer every year and I think I’ve been ticking that box since I was maybe first put a club in my hand when I was four or five.

So, I would say I wish I had accomplished more at this point.  I’m sure everyone’s going to say the same thing, but at the same time, I’m very proud of the fact that I feel like I’m becoming a more accomplished golfer every year.

“I’ve got a little bit more of an idea of how I work.  I think the consistency’s becoming a little bit more noticeable to myself as the years go on, a few more opportunities to win.  A year like last year, I don’t really know how to rate it on a scale, but at the same time, I’m very happy with how I played when I needed to play well and that’s a really good sign for me going forward.”

At the Australian Golf Club today, Davis was again in front of the media and spoke of the joy of returning to a golf course that holds so many memories and is so close to where he grew up.

“It’s always so much fun coming back to a place where you’ve got that many good memories, defining moments in your career.  This place really kick-started my whole professional career.  I would say this is the place that helped me get on the PGA Tour basically.  I think without the week that I had here, the pathway would have been very different for me.

“It’s so fun coming back here, being able to see the places where I hit some shots that were really crucial during that round.  It’s also just a lot of fun because it’s a home game for me.  This is as close as I’m ever going to play to home, growing up about 30 minutes north of here.  So friends and family are going to be here.  It’s a lot of fun.  I love coming back home.”

Davis believes the strengths of his game including his length from the tee and his ability to play wind well will likely be key requirements on the two exposed layouts adjacent to the Sydney airport (both the Australian Golf Club and the Lakes are being used this week).

“I feel like it’s always really windy here.  I feel like I’m a pretty good wind player in terms of shaping the ball around and judging wind conditions.  That’s going to be a huge thing out here, because the greens are a little harder to hold, especially downwind, I feel like I’ve got a good high ball.  Into the wind I feel like I’ve got a good low-ball as well.  I feel like I’ve gotten to the point in my career now where I’ve managed to get better control of all the shots.

“I did grow up here, so just doing that required you to learn how to play the wind, but also hitting the ball a bit further out here is beneficial.  If you do have that length, you don’t necessarily need to use it all the time, but if you do have a drive that can carry some of these fairway bunkers, it can turn the fairway from 20 metres wide to 40 metres wide.  We’ll take these opportunities when we get them, especially when it’s downwind.”

Davis was upbeat about the way has been playing in recent times and hopes that the magic he produced in 2017 can assist him to a second Australian Open victory.

“Since the beginning of the playoffs and just before the playoffs this year, I’ve played some really good golf.  So, I’m hoping that trend leads to another trophy out here, but last time it was a pretty out-of-the-blue week for me.

“I was coming off probably the worst season of golf I’ve ever had and first year as a pro, it was not a great 2017 for me until I came here and, all of a sudden, I turned in some of my best scores I’ve ever had in tournaments.

Hopefully, we can find some more magic.”

Cam Davis with his 2017 trophy

Cam Davis with his Australian Amateur trophy