Danny Lee moves at Dogwood
BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Dogwood Invitational | Round Three | 28 Jun 2008
There must be something New Zealand’s Danny Lee likes about the Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Following his third-round 5-under-par, 67, Lee is yet again in position to challenge for the Dogwood Invitational title.
Rounds of 63-73-67 has Lee at 13-under-par, only three strokes from tournament leader, Jonathan Hodge.
Last year Lee finished four strokes short of claiming his first major US amateur championship after James Simpson stormed home with a second consecutive 63, to finish 19-under-par. The runner-up finish at the 2007 Dogwood, remains Lee’s best result in a major US amateur event to date.
“The long birdie on the first hole got my game going today,” said Lee this evening.
“It was a tough round and the hour rain-delay made it even tougher. I managed to make five birdies and one bogey. I was struggling with my putting and starting to feel tired, but this layout suits my game and if I can get my putter working tomorrow, I feel I can score low.”
With a vast repertoire of shot-making capabilities, Lee is an exciting talent on the course. Eroding a three stroke difference in a final round of a major amateur event is quite within Lee’s capabilities.
The world number five consistently scores low in big events, as shown during this year’s Lake Macquarie Amateur where Lee blitzed an international field with a 20-under-par score, 10 shots ahead of his nearest rival, Matthew Griffin. The Lake Macquarie Amateur was Lee’s first international victory, having won numerous New Zealand amateur titles.
Matt Jager and Tim Stewart are the best of the Australians at T14 and 8-under-par, eight behind the leader.
Stewart, the 2006 Australian Amateur champion, opened the tournament with a career low 9-under-par 63, to be joint first round leader with Lee, however, subsequent rounds of 72-73 resulted in Stewart slipping back in the field.
Western Australian Matt Jager fired rounds of 68-72-68 and is performing well in his maiden US tour with strong performances at the Northeast Amateur last week, to build upon his seven top-10 National Trial event finishes he secured back in Australian before arriving.
Jager played today alongside fellow Australian Matt Giles, another promising young gun, with Giles also securing a 4-under-par, 68 to be a stroke behind Jager and Stewart in T20.
“I felt very relaxed, yet competitive out there today with Matt,” remarked Jager. “I was 1-over after storm delays and then came out and birdied five holes after the delay. The course is great and with the greens firming up, if you leave yourself with good angles to attack the flag, there’s a low score to be had.”
Giles agrees with his mate Jager that low scoring will prevail for tomorrow’s final round.
“You would think 20-under-par will win and the way the course is playing, even lower is possible,” remarked Giles, who’s now based at University of Southern California and was the 2006 Callaway Junior World Campion.
The cut came in at 3-under-par, with Josh Younger finishing 70-71-69, along with Matthew Griffin, 74-69-67, to be 6-under-par and Jason Scrivener with 71-70-71 to be 4-under-par. They will all playing tomorrow’s final round.
Daniel Beckmann (even-par), Ray Beaufils (1-over-par), Justin Roach (2-over-par), Michael Foster (3-over-par) and Mitch Krywulycz (4-over-par), will miss the final round, as well as Brett Rankin, who finished at 14-over-par and well down the field.
