Yang hangs on as Kreutz charges into contention
IN: News | ALPG | ANZ Ladies Masters (2006) | Round Three | by Bruce Young | 04 Feb 2006
Day Three Photo Gallery - ANZ Ladies Masters
The third round of the ANZ Ladies Masters contained an intriguing storyline, in fact several, as the leaders took to the Royal Pines layout.
The brilliant 16-year-old Korean, Amy Yang, who now resides only a few kilometers from the venue had upstaged some of the leading players in the game over the first two rounds of the tournament but she was about to face the greatest test and scrutiny of her short golfing career on a hot and steamy Gold Coast day.
Not only did she stand up to that scrutiny but by the end of the day she maintained her one shot lead although now it was over the Frenchwoman, Ludivine Kreutz, who had come from nowhere to record a last nine of 29 to all but catch the leader. It was a massive turnaround for Kreutz but Yang showed all those present, some tremendous heart for one so young
Yang gave notice of how she might handle the day when she opened with a massive drive at the first."It relaxed me she would later say." As she found the green with her second, the lady who has cast a massive shadow over this event over the last ten years was reminding all and sundry as to just why she has been such a dominant force in the event.
After two early pars, Karrie Webb hit a superb three wood second at the par five third to six feet and although she missed her great eagle opportunity she had closed within three. The name of Webb climbing the leaderboard at this event is like Tiger Woods appearing on a leaderboard at a men's event. Her presence ensures that those ahead are forever watching over their shoulder to check on her progress. Unfortunately for Webb however her opponents needn't have worried as she was not a threat for long. She missed the green at the par three fifth and took bogey and although she birdied the 7th, she bogeyed the 8th and did not pick up the almost compulsory birdie at the 9th, especially for one of her length. She finished with 74 one of her worst efforts here and at three under is a long way back in 22nd place.
Yang may have driven the ball well at the first but her putt for birdies there and at the second were tentative which given the circumstances was understandable. She found the green at the par five third with her second from long range and two putted for birdie from 70 feet and the lead was hers on her own.
If Yang was tentative early she seemed to be over any early nerves when she all but holed her tee shot at the par three fifth and when she had holed that she had moved three ahead. At the sixth hole she again hit her approach close and then holed it to move to twelve under and four ahead of Mhairi McKay who birdied the first to join the leader but bogeyed the third to fall two behind her playing partner Yang.
Ahead on the course there were many emerging as threats, if not to the leader in the short term, at least to those in the top three. Queenslander, Katherine Hull, who started three hours before the leaders moved to seven under for the day when she birdied the 17th and had at that stage moved to six under for the tournament. It was a move that had her within striking distance should the young leader falter at all. At the par four last however, Hull hit her approach into the greenside bunker and took bogey but it was still a fine round of 66.
"It was bitter sweet at the end given the bogey at the last," said Hull later. 'I had a 15 footer which I had on line but left short. You don't mind making a bogey in the middle of the round but when it comes at the 18th it is a little disappointing."
Tamie Durdin was also making a big move from well back. Starting the day at even par she too raced to seven under par when she birdied the 16th but a bogey at the 17th and a par at the last saw her finish at six under. Durdin has played the last twelve months on the JLPGA Tour in Japan after a couple of years on the USLPGA Tour and her game appears to be the better for it. She is a long hitter and if anything happens to the leader tomorrow and if she is able to reproduce today's effort then a memorable victory could well be hers.
"My two bogeys came from three putts, the one on the 17th when I perhaps should have waited for a ruling that Brittany Lang was waiting for," said Durdin "I had eight birdies and a couple of bogeys." Durdin comes off a year in Japan where she decided to play after several seasons in the US. "It was a good move to go to Japan. My game is slowly coming together and mentally and physically it is working well. I just need to keep putting myself in a position to win now and see what I come up with. I thought they might have moved away more today but they have actually bunched so I still feel I have a chance for a good finish."
An hour or so after Durdin had finished, she was headed as the leading Australian by Nikki Campbell who has also been quietly but successfully going about her business in Japan.
"The last two days have been good. The first day I was a little nervous as I haven't played a tournament since November and I played with Rachel (Hetherington). I think when you play an event like this here in Australia you are anxious to do well as there are not many chances here. Rachel was great to play with but I was perhaps too anxious to do well. Last week I went to Nadina Light's wedding and even though I could have just made it to the Club Pelican event, I have a policy of if I can't do it right I won't do it."
"Today I had eight birdies but dropped three shots mainly because of the fact that I am still working on things and perhaps because I was still a little nervous," added Campbell. "Looking ahead to tomorrow I will just go out and do as well as I can tomorrow without any expectations. When she finished her round she was just two shots out of second place although eventually finished the day three behind the second placed Kreutz.
Back out on the course Swedish golfer Louise Stahle got her round headed in the right direction with a birdie at the third but it was not until the 8th that things really took off. She birdied the 8th and 9th, the 12th and the 13th to get to 9 under for the tournament. She missed a five foot par saving putt at the 14th and slipped back to eight under and at that stage left American amateur Tiffany Joh on her own in second place at nine under. Stahle would finish at eight under.
For the 20 year old, who attended Arizona State University and who now has her USLPGA Tour card after turning professional in August of last year, this follows just eight months after a great finish at one of the majors of the Year for the women, namely the Women's British Open. At Royal Birkdale she finished 8th and is clearly a player of the future. It may just be that tomorrow she becomes a player of the present.
Joh is here as a result of her great showing last year when her second round of 63 stole the early limelight in this event. She now attends UCLA University where she is a member of their golf team. She started at six under and turned in 34 to be at nine under which is where she remained. Her third round of 69 has her in third place and just two behind and given that the leader is even less experienced than her she might yet fancy her chances of a fight to the finish between two amateurs.
Frenchwoman Ludivine Kreutz was having a very ordinary round and sat at one under for the day when she walked to the 13th tee. A birdie at the tough and dangerous 13th set off a run that would see her hole in one at the 14th, birdie the par five 15th, birdie the par three 16th and then at the last she hit a five iron to three metres and when she made that putt she had played her back nine in 29 and was at ten under and alone in second place.
An NRL player would describe Kreutz's round as 'a game of two halves' such was the contrast between her two nines. She struggled through her front nine in fact so much so that she hit a three wood at the seventh hole just fifty metres along the ground. "I was stressed when starting out hoping that I would play well but it was a struggle until the 13th. When I made my birdie there I relaxed and then at the par three I hit six iron. I turned away as I was not happy with the way I hit it and in fact I did not actually see it going in. Kreutz was six under for the last six holes and had moved from a struggling 18th to 2nd.
It was a stunning run of golf and has the Solheim Cup representative well positioned to record her fourth LPGA Tour victory. As the leader struggled towards the end of her round, Kreutz made even further progress on the leaderboard in fact by the completion of play she was just one back after being nine behind the leader with six holes of her third round to play. It was a reversal that could prove crucial in the heat of the last round battle tomorrow.
At nine under and in a share of third place with Joh was another American Catherine Cartwright who recovered from a shaky opening bogey to finish with 70 and at nine under she has a chance to record her second win in professional golf. Her other was a Futures Tour event in 2003. She did though win the US Public Links Amateur Championship in 2000.
The leader, Yang was outstanding given the task she faced leading into day three. She did drop shots at the 13th, where she misread a par saving putt, and at the 17th but to have been able to lead and hold off such a quality field for so long was an achievement of the highest order for one of such limited experience in such situations. Her third round of 70 has her one ahead.
She has a chance to create history tomorrow by becoming the first amateur to win an event of such significance in Australian women's golf and to all but guarantee a successful introduction to professional golf when that time comes perhaps in eighteen months time. Irrespective of the result tomorrow, it might just be that she already has.
Despite the absence of the leading names in the event there is much at stake and much interest in tomorrow's final round.
Photo - Anthony Powter
