AUSTRALIANS DOMINATE THIRD DAY

                                                                              By NEVILLE IDOUR

The Australian prescence asserted itself on the third day of the NZ Open Presented by Sky Sport at Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown. Unheralded and with no World ranking in the top 1,000 27 year old Shae Wools-Cobb has a two shot lead on the field after a round featuring seven birdies and just the one bogey on 13, one of the apparently more friendly par 4’s. A burst of five consecutive birdies from hole five separated him from the field.

He ended the day -17 with first round leader Christopher Wood second on -15 after finishing strongly with three birdies on the last four holes. Wools-Cobb said “It is the first time I have led into the final round. So it is exciting and I feel good about my game.”

The leading threat to the Australians is Terumichi Kakazu (Japan) on -14 after a solid -5 round. Sitting on -14 he is well placed to upset the party. Rhein Gibson, veteran Scott Hend and Japan tour stalwart Brendan Jones are the other Australians lurking on -13. Brendan Jones had a stunning nine birdie bogey free 62.

The New Zealand challenge is still alive if somewhat muted. Looking most likely are amateur Kazuma Kobori (T7) and 2017 NZ Open winner Michael Hendry (T10). Kobori was again playing near flawless bogey free golf until the 17th which had been yielding many birdies and several eagles. Four birdies to that point had featured accurate drives, solid putting and a couple of excellent bunker recoveries.

Until the 17th he had held second place and at one point was just one off the leader. Come the 17th and a safe tee shot set up a layup before the lake in front of the green. However his second shot was well short and picked out a bunker left. It was an uncharacteristic error and this was compounded by his bunker shot from 100 metres finding the water and the double bogey halted his progress. To his credit his tee shot on the par 3 island green 18th left him a five footer which he holed for a comeback birdie. 54 holes with just the one blemish has been quite outstanding.

Michael Hendry after his +1 first round repeated his second round -6 to finish the day 11 under and in with a sniff. Ben Campbell and Daniel Hillier (T12) on -10 both had solid rounds as did Luke Toomey on -8 (T22). Unfortunately for Steve Alker (T31) it was not to be. It was a strange round of just a lone birdie on nine and a lone bogey on the more gettable back nine.

There were many more spectators at Millbrook today despite the bleak early weather which improved as the day progressed. The weather is looking good for the final round so a bumper crowd is expected to see what could well be a shootout over the final few holes.