South Africa surge, Aussies slide at World Amateur
IN: News | Amateur Golf | World Amateur Team Championships (2006) | Round Three | by Anthony Powter | 21 Oct 2006
The third round of any tournament is commonly known as "moving day", and this was certainly the situation last night in the Women's World Amateur golf championship. Host nation South Africa is in a commanding position with a four shot lead over defending champions Sweden. Australia unfortunately slid further down the leaderboard from T7th to 16th position, effectively out of serious contention for the championship.
South Africa's previous best performance in the World Amateur was T2nd in 1974. Kelli Shean and Stacy Bregman combined to post a 3 under round to position the South Africans at 14 under. Sweden is second at 10 under followed by Germany at 9 under. Should the South Africans retain the lead on the final day, they'll become the first team to win the World Amateur on home soil since America in 1980. The only other team to acheive that feat was France in 1964.
United States also made a third round surge moving from T12th into 6th position, on the back of a flawless 66 by current US Women's Amateur Champion, Kimberly Kim. The two-time winner of the Junior World Championship played a bogey free round and along with Amanda Blumenherst's par round, moved the Americans up 6 places however, they remain 10 shots behind the South Africans.
Spain and Sweden also recorded 6 under rounds, whilst New Zealand's team effort of 5 under elevated them to T7th.
The Kiwis' performance was fueled by Sarah Nicholson's 67, who was positioned T45th in the individual before the third round. Nicholson, who is the current Australian Ladies Stroke play Champion, now finds herself 17th in the individual standings along with fellow team mate Sharon Ahn.
Nicholson recently led the NZD$40,000 Wairakei Open in New Zealand with a second round 67 over the predominately male field, a shot short of the men's course record. The Lake Macquarie Amateur Champion is having a strong year and the New Zealand Team's preparation of playing their amateurs in a number of male professional events to gain the needed match fitness before arriving in South Africa is obviously paying dividends.
New Zealand is within six shots from third placed Germany moving into the final round. A podium position becomes a possibility, as they are a team with everything to gain and nothing to lose. The Kiwis are paired with Spain and England in the final round this evening.
Australia's downward slide on the leaderboard is a real body blow to a team full of talent and one that showed considerable promise leading into the championship.
Reports about putting problems caused by uneven surfaces have filtered through from sources other than the players, however, all teams have played the same greens and there's been low scores recorded by the Australians. Francis Bondad and Emma Bennett have both carded 69, reflecting excellent performances, better than many of the individual scores in the leading teams. Kate Combes got off to a shaky start but has has settled into the Championship.
Australia's position is more to do with the team format of the World Amateur than putting surfaces, where the best two of the three scores are counted for the round. The Australians have missed some opportunities, particularly during the second round and the team has not been able to gel two low scores together in a single round. Other teams like South Africa and Sweden have managed this and the results are reflective of this.
The World Amateur is for South Africa's taking, however, with Sweden only four shots behind, the current title holders are sure to come out and attack the course, which is will be in stark contrast to what their coach Katarina Vagal described the teams attitude after the first round - "sit back, relax and enjoy the fight".
