Courageous Porter holds on to lead
BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2008 Moonah Classic | Round Three | 23 Feb 2008
Twenty minutes before teeing off this morning tournament leader Ewan Porter was still considering withdrawing from the Moonah Classic after a neck injury aggravated in the gym left him wondering if he would make it to the first tee.
Porter, who has leads the field by one shot heading into tomorrow’s final round, felt a twinge in his neck from a recurring injury after doing lat pulldowns earlier in the day and when the pain increased and he could barely move feared the worst.
“I’ve had this injury a couple of times in the past and everytime I do weights above my head this occurs. At 8:30 I came to the locker room to see our Tour physio Paul Trainor and as soon as he touched it I just yelped in pain.”
“He told me to go home and rest, so I went back to the house and lay down and literally couldn’t move. I was devastated. I rang my mother and gave her all the grief. I had mum in tears and I was in tears. I thought I was out.”
Twenty minutes before tee off, Porter was still struggling with the fact that he may need to withdraw and headed to the first tee with trepidation that a worse injury could occur.
With the aid of anti inflammatories and physio the Cronulla based golfer showed a lot of courage, at one stage holding a five shot lead, but with testing conditions, Australian Terry Price and Wayne Perske played some sensational golf to reduce that lead to one and will head the all-Australian leading final group tomorrow at midday.
For 25 year old Porter, who has led the field from Day 1, a victory at the Moonah Classic would be the biggest moment in his career to date. He has taken the scare as a ‘wake up call’ and plans to take it easy tomorrow morning in the lead-up to what could be his first professional win.
“I think everything happens for a reason and I certainly won’t be doing that again early in the morning. I am going to go out there tomorrow and stay in the present, that’s my goal. If I do what I did today, there is no reason why I can’t win this.”
Hot on Porter’s heels are Queenslander’s Price and Perske. Price with his third successive 70 and a 72 from Porter’s playing partner Perske, who chipped in for eagle at the last, have them well in touch at minus six.
One stroke further adrift is American Tee McCabe, who grabbed an eagle at the last to jump to outright fourth, and his compatriots Fran Quinn (71) and DJ Brigman (68) are tied for fifth place on four-under. Brigman had an up and down round and sits thanks to an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys.
“Commitment was the biggest key for me today,” said 31 year old Brigman from Clovis in New Mexico. “You are stepping up there and you don’t know if you have the right club. You have to just commit to what you have, (and) that’s what I did.”
“You are going to make mistakes in conditions like this. I went into the day knowing I was going to make some bogeys. I just had to follow up with some birdies and I was able to do that.”
Australian Alistair Presnell came home strongly with three back-nine birdies for a 70 and a share of seventh with Argentine Fabian Gomez, whose 68 contained six birdies and a couple of bogeys.
The top 10 is rounded out by Canadian Bryan Decorso (70), American Bret Guetz (71) and recent Mexico Open champion Jarrod Lyle, whose 68 was a mix of six birdies, including three from the first four holes, and a pair of bogeys.
The final round of the 2008 Moonah Classic begins tomorrow at 7:50am with the final group teeing off at midday.
Source – PGA Tour
