Déjà vu for Oh at Oatlands

BY Liz White | ALPG Tour | 2009 Women's NSW Open | Round Two | 24 Jan 2009

Same tournament, same situation but hopefully for Sarah Oh, the outcome will be different after the third and final round of the NSW Open Championship tomorrow.

Last year, the Sydneysider headed into the last day at Oatlands Golf Course with a two shot lead over Britain’s Laura Davies but was beaten by her hero over the final holes.

Tomorrow she will take a four shot lead over Katherine Hull into day three but says she won’t be intimidated like she was in 2008.

“Laura is one of my favourite players and I was a bit nervous at the start,” she said.

“I played with Katherine last year with Laura, she is nice girl and we get on well.

“As I said, like yesterday, I will just play the ball.”

It was a difficult day out at Oatlands today, with the temperature hovering around the 40-degree mark. By the afternoon, hot north westerlies blew across the course, making playing conditions even worse. In the end for many it became more like an episode of Survivor.

Oh, however was one of the lucky ones hitting off before 8am, and she made the most of her good fortune.

Today she backed up her course record seven under 65 yesterday with another solid performance of five under 67 to be 12 under for the tournament.

But she is perplexed why she is playing so well.

“I don’t know how I did it, I was just playing by the book, working with my caddy, shot by shot,” she said.

“The wind gusted up towards the back nine and I didn’t try to do anything special.”

It may have something to do with the punishing regime she has been putting herself through with some of the visiting Korean players, including USLPGA player, Hee Young Park.

During a two week camp at Bateman’s Bay recently, Oh would rise at 5am and immediately head to the course for 18 holes, then do some putting practice, followed by a 2 hour sleep, a 2 hour gym workout and back out on the course till 7:30pm, have dinner and then more practice indoors.

“They practice heaps, wow I did nothing compared to them so I learnt a lot,” she said.

Queenslander Katherine Hull is moving confidently through the field and is a threat to Oh tomorrow.

Today, she also shot five under but it could have been anything, after going through the first seven holes on six under then letting it slip with three bogeys.

“Yes there is still a bit of rust apparently in the game,” she laughed.

“I got off to a good start but just made a couple of mistakes so it was a bit disappointing but that’s golf.”

The round of the day belonged to the slightly built South Australian, Susie Matthews.

Weighing 56 kgs and at just 168cm in height, the 26-year-old equalled yesterday’s course record of seven under 65, a card which included eight birdies and one solitary bogey on the par 4 17th.

“Today I hit greens, I hit fairways and I just sunk some good putts,” she said.

“I think I left myself in good positions because I didn’t have any of those tricky windy putts that you can get out there.”

It’s been quite a journey for Matthews, who played golf for UCLA college in America and then gave the game away to work full time in sports policy in Canberra.

After last year’s Australian season, she threw in her government job and dedicated herself solely to golf.

That gamble paid off today and she now finds herself in equal sixth position on five under, just one shot behind yesterday’s story, Nikki Garrett.

After scoring an albatross yesterday, Garrett had to contend herself with a par on the fourth hole today. She finished one over 73 and found the going tough in the heat and wind.

Defending champion Laura Davies was just glad to have finished her round. The strong winds sheared a branch off a tree, which landed right where she had been standing on the 14th green next to her caddy, Johnny.

“For some reason I have decided I am going to get my driver out of the bag, which I never do, and as I walk away this branch comes from 60 feet and it misses Johnny by six inches,” she said.

“I swear to god it would have killed one of us, If I had stayed there it would have got me and if it would have gone a foot over it would have done Johnny.”

Davies posted a three under round of 69 to be placed at five under and in equal 6th position with five others, including Sarah Kemp and Sarah-Jane Smith.

Joining Oh and Hull in the final group tomorrow will be Nocera, who at five shots back on seven under, isn’t throwing in the towel. The only difficulty she is having is handling the heat after coming from the ski slopes just two weeks ago.

“I think I drank about 6 litres of water out there, I am like a camel,” she joked.

If Oh does win tomorrow, it will be her first 54-hole professional tournament victory since turning pro in late 2007 and that has her excited.

“Winning a professional tournament, winning at NSW, my home, that would be great.”