Hart leads but Federal Am up for grabs

BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2009 Federal Amateur Open Championship | Round Three | 04 Oct 2009

While Queensland’s Tim Hart remains in the share of the lead following the third round of the Federal Amateur Open, there are plenty of likely contenders moving in to claim the title.

Craig Hancock fired a third round 68 to be in a share of the leaderboard with Hart at 9-under, but the round of the day came from defending champion Matt Jager, who fired a 6-under, 66, to move seven places into a tie for second along with Brendan Smith.

Smith looked to have had the third round lead in his grasp until a costly double bogey on the final hole. The 20-year-old had earlier taken command of the Federal layout with precision driving and impeccable short iron play.

It was the final closing holes that did the damage for Smith, yet he remains resilient about his form and prospects for claiming his first National Trial title after two runner-up finishes in 2009 with the Lake Macquarie Amateur against good mate, Scott Arnold, and at the Keperra Bowl when Daniel Nisbet drained a birdie on the last to add to his purple patch of a run at the time.

“I’m ready for tomorrow,” says Smith, currently the world number 25.

“I closed poorly today, but it won’t stay on my mind this evening. I’ll go and watch the footy and probably do some chipping to get ready for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”

Smith this year opened strongly at the prized Porter Cup in the US to share a three-way lead after the opening round. He was primed for a strong tournament there, only the be denied the chance by the elements as the tournament was shortened due to torrential rain that hammered Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston, New York.

He also played strongly at the British Amateur where Smith had a top-5 finish at the stroke qualification rounds. Along with Smith in second place is Australia’s highest ranked amateur Matt Jager, who displayed a peerless round of golf on a layout where the putting surfaces is nothing but a challenge itself.

“That was the round that I was after,” remarked Jager this afternoon.

“It’s great to be back into contention at an event like this. There’s a lot of positives for me with the Federal Amateur, and I’d like nothing better than to put in a solid performance tomorrow and see how things go.”

Since the Friday’s opening round Time Hart has held the lead at the Federal Amateur. No player has managed to win the event wire-to-wire for the last six years and the Queenslander is seeking to change that statistic.

“Today was not my best round,” remarked Hart.

“I missed a few putts and just had one of those days. I’ll be right for tomorrow and are looking forward to the challenge of winning one of these events.”

Hart, like Smith, has experienced his share of close wins after finishing runner-up at the NSW Amateur Championship in 2008 and at the 2009 Mandurah Easter Amateur.

Smith and Hart are due for a major Australian amateur tile and should either breakthrough tomorrow here in Canberra, it will be a richly deserved maiden win.

Luke Bleumink is in outright 5th place following rounds of 69-70-70 to be at 7-under-par, two behind the leaders. The Victorian remains in with a chance going into the final round and he should not be discounted either in what has become an open affair for the title at the Federal Amateur.

Despite earlier in the week with the withdrawal of a number of marque players, this Federal Amateur has evolved into a fantastic tournament with a blend of both seasoned winners of National Trial events and the next wave pressing to claim the event. It sets the stage for a nail-bitting finish, yet with the way Jager was playing today, not to mentioned Smith, both will take some stopping tomorro