Webb looks to make it six after course record
IN: News | ALPG | ANZ Ladies Masters (2007) | Round Three | by Bruce Young | 10 Feb 2007
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Round three of the ANZ Ladies Masters at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast of Queensland promised much and as it has done so often, delivered on its promise.
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Karrie Webb, the long time darling of the tournament, staked her claim for her sixth win in the event with a simply stunning round of 62 to not only create a new course record but to establish a lead that potentially sets her up for her sixth win in the event. Her round, as brilliant as it was, could only give her a share of the lead. Michelle Ellis bounced back from a nervous start to record a back nine of 32 to share the lead and assured herself of a place in the final group tomorrow.
From very early on it was clear that this was a day when scores would again be low and by the time the leading pair of Sun Ju Ahn and Michelle Ellis had teed off it was obvious they would not be able to rest on their laurels. From well back in the field the challengers were mounting. Pre tournament favourites, Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr, were showing why they had dominated early betting on the event, while another who many considered a chance this week, Brittany Lincicome, was also making a move from her overnight 27th position.
Lincicome, whose prodigious length from the tee was always going to be an advantage on a golf course which favoured long hitters, raced to the turn in five under 32 and had moved to 10th place when she had done so. Webb made her predicted move early picking up four birdies in her first seven holes to move to nine under and all of a sudden she was within striking distance of the leader, Ahn.
Kerr is a player of immense class but unlike most of the field here this week she had not had the advantage of a week in Sydney last week to get acclimatised and tournament sharp. She was slow out of the blocks on the opening two days but picked up three birdies in her first five holes to be at 9 under and the rust she had been removing on days one and two looked to be well and truly gone.
The leader Ahn picked up the predictable birdie at the third hole although she had to work hard to get it. At the reachable par five she was forced to hole a 25 footer but when she had she was at 13 under and two ahead of Ellis who recovered from an early bogey at the first when she too birdied the 3rd although hers was a much easier task from just five feet.
Ahn added another birdie at the 4th after a second to three feet and she had moved to 14 under and was two ahead of Ellis who again matched the leader's birdie at the 4th to stay within two.
Four holes ahead, the five time winner of the event, Webb, holed a 20 foot birdie putt at the 8th and had moved to ten under and the tournament organisers were licking their lips at the prospect of their number one attraction being back in the thick of things. At the 9th, a hole that most of Webb's length would consider a near automatic birdie, she finished just through the bunker with her tee shot and had a down hill lie on the opposite side. She tried to go for the green with her second but it started right and stayed there. She finished some way short of the green but luckily had a shot from under the trees and pitched to 35 feet. A two putt par was a disappointing finish to what had been a brilliant front nine.
By now the challenges were coming from everywhere and it was a task just to keep pace with the goings on. Linda Wessburg has played well on this golf course previously and in 2006 proved her class by winning the Ladies Wales Open on a demanding golf course at Machynys Peninsula. Wessburg moved to 11 under par when she birdied the 5th and was, at that point, within three of Ahn's lead but no sooner has she done that than she was in trouble on the 6th hole. She pulled her tee shot left into the water and eventually took double bogey but was still in 6th place albeit now five behind.
Ahn's first real blemish came at the par four 6th where she was unable to save from 8 feet and she was back at 13 under and at that point there were nine players within four shots of the lead. Ellis again followed the lead of Ahn when she also bogeyed the 6th and Ahn was two ahead of Ellis and three ahead of Webb, Kerr and Shin Ji Yai.
Karrie Webb added yet another birdie at the 11th from 20 feet and from 15 feet at the 12th and she was at 12 under and now trailed by just one as she reached the 13th tee and the leader Ahn walked to the par five 9th. Webb shared second place with Ellis while Kerr and Shin were just one further back.
Ahn had no other option, at the par five 9th, than to lay up after a drive which found the right hand rough, but pitched to two feet and the birdie she made had her ahead by two as she made the turn.
Ahead Kerr was about to join the pair at 12 under when she hit a fine pitch to three feet at the 12th and she was within two of Ahn and shared second place with Ellis and Webb.
At the 10th Ahn finished just off the edge of the green at the 10th and chipped four feet past. Her putt never touched the hole and she had dropped a shot and when her playing partner, Ellis, made her birdie from 6 feet there had been a two shot swing and the pair was locked at 13 under and one ahead of Webb , Kerr and Shin who had just birdied the 12th.
Kerr made a good par save at the 13th hole and kept herself within one.
At the par three 11th Ellis pulled her tee shot left and came to rest in the hazard but above the waterline. She was able to get at the ball but could only get it onto the green but some 25 feet from the hole. Ahn had also hit her tee shot left but not as far left as Ellis and was able to hit a delightful pitch to four feet but when she missed her second consecutive short par saving putt there were five players sharing the lead. Ahn, Ellis, Kerr, Shin and Webb, who was in the process of playing the par five 15th hole, were all tied at 12 under and nine players were within two of the lead.
Webb found the bunker with her second to the 15th but hit a fine bunker shot to five feet and when that went in she was ahead in the tournament for the first time in 51 holes of golf. Would she stay that way? - the next 90 minutes would tell the story. She answered part of the question herself when she hit a seven iron at the par three 16th to three feet and when she made that Webb was two ahead.
Like Webb had done some fifteen minutes earlier, Kerr found the bunker with her second at the par five 15th but recovered to six feet. The putt she faced to take her within one of Webb was a tricky sliding left to righter and she was unable to convert. Neither was she able to convert one or two other chances on the way in and Kerr was left to rue another frustrating on the greens. "This is a four day tournament however and who knows if I can get things going tomorrow then who know what might happen," she said immediately after her round.
Webb found the right hand trees at the 17th and was forced to go over the top. She caught the branches and landed on the front edge. The putt from there from some 30 feet never looked like missing and she had moved to an incredible ten under for the round and was at 15 under for the tournament and had established a three shot lead. Her smile as the putt disappeared summed up her awareness of the day she was having on the greens. "It was just that everything I looked at seemed to be going in," she said later when asked why she had the wry smile on her face. "I could have putted with my eyes closed today and it would have gone in."
Ahn and Ellis began to tread water as the pre tournament favourites Webb and Kerr, established their place near the head of the field. They were not done with yet but they needed to turn around the momentum that had swing against them. Both did exactly that at the most difficult hole on the course, the 13th when they both holed from under ten feet and they were at 13 under and within two of Webb who had been threatening to run away with the tournament.
Webb hit a great drive at the last but pulled her second into the back left bunker. Her bunker shot ran past the edge of the hole to three feet but she was able to make it and the new course record of 62 was hers. Webb was beaming as indeed was tournament director Bob Tuohy who had his dream scenario developing before his very eyes.
"I knew 61 was a chance as I played the last but perhaps hit a little too much club there in being too aggressive," said Webb of her attempt at one final birdie.
"My best round has been 61 and I was keen to match that but it is the best round that Mikie (her caddy Mike Paterson) and I have had together. I think the ball striking was a little better on Saturday last week in Sydney but the putting (25 putts) was better, in fact as good as it has been for quite a while and I was really in the zone."
As Webb walked the last hole she was clearly enjoying the moment. It is an area she has worked on in her endeavour to return to the top of the game. The smiles were there for all to see.
As Webb left her press conference (she had played 50 minutes ahead of the last group) Ellis was adding a second consecutive birdie at the par five 15th and she had moved into a share of the lead with Webb. It was a gutsy comeback from the lady from just across the border in Northern New South Wales.
Ellis had another great chance to take a one shot lead at the 17th from 12 feet short of the hole but left her putt short and as she headed to the last she was tied in the lead with Webb.
As Ellis hit her tee shot from the last, ahead on the green the Korean, Shin Ji Yai, was over a 20 foot birdie putt that would get her within one. She was able to make it and for the second week in succession a Korean is in close proximity of the lead. Fortunately for the tournament organisers, many others than will have a chance to take the title than had been the case at the corresponding time last week at Royal Sydney.
Ellis found the fairway at the last and hit her approach to 18 feet. She still had a chance to take the third round lead. She couldn't but she was pleased with her round. "I was a little nervous over the first few holes and the blocked right shot is the one we have been working on eliminating from the golf game after the injury, she said later. "After a few holes I felt a little more relaxed and in many ways the bogey at the first was probably the best thing that happened to me as it calmed me down."
As the dust and the sun settled over Royal Pines, Webb and Ellis led by one over Shin and by three over Ahn, Stahlin and Kerr. Given what we have witnessed today, however, there is no guarantee of anything in tomorrow's final round although there would be very few prepared to bet against another Webb victory.
Photo - iseekgolf.com
