Dury drives Kiwi golfers at Espirito Santo

BY iseekgolf.com | Amateur Golf Tour | 2004 World Amateur Team Championships | Round Three | 23 Oct 2004

US-based Claire Dury produced the sparkle as New Zealand moved to 11th place with one round remaining in the Espirito Santo world teams championship in Puerto Rico today.

The Kiwis finished with a two-over par 146 for the two best counting scores, led by a one-under par 71 from Manawatu’s Dury. Wellington’s Sarah Nicholson shot a three over 75 and Rotorua’s Penny Newbrook the non-counting 78.

The New Zealand team, who began the day in a share of 13th place, finally had some good fortune with the weather, beating home a further storm that halted play for more than two hours.

They were first off today in hot and humid conditions although they did not make their usual fast start, with Nicholson four over after 10 holes, Newbrook five over at the turn and Dury two over.

While the Kiwis have dropped shots down the stretch in the opening two rounds, they rallied today with Dury making two birdies in the final three holes for her 71, to climb to 28th overall on the individual rankings.

Nicholson was also under the card on the back nine, as was Newbrook until a disastrous triple bogey at the last hole on the River course.

“The positive was definitely the finishing effort from the team today. In Claire’s case we changed her nutrition plan and all three realised the importance of finishing well,” national coach Geoff Smart said.

“It was a great effort from Claire today. She hit the ball superbly and could easily have been three or four shots better. She grazed the hole four times with putts that didn’t drop.”

Smart said lack of success on the greens had cost the Kiwis a place much higher up the leaderboard.

“Generally they have hit the ball really well, and are getting into scoring position. They are reading the greens well and putting soundly without any luck.

“Sarah is particularly frustrated right now because she knows she has a low round within her reach.

“Having said that we have continued to improve out position. We will need our best performance tomorrow if we are to maintain that spot or progress.”

Canada retained their overall lead, firing a one-under par 143 to move to seven-under par for the tournament, two shots clear of Sweden who shot a two-under 142 today.

The United States, who have won the championship 13 times, remain in third spot but dropped to five shots behind Canada, with Colombia moving to fourth on even par.

The big movers today included Japan who jumped to fifth with a third round five-under 139, matched by Germany, who moved to seventh.

Sweden’s Karin Sjodin is the leading individual on six-under par 210, a shot clear of Julieta Granada (Paraguay) with Laura Matthews (Canada) and Anastasia Kostina (Russia) in a share of third a further shot back.

Australia are running in last place despite a third round rally.

Source – NZGA