Townsend set for maiden win at NSW Open

BY Anthony Powter | Von Nida Tour | 2008 New South Wales Open | Round Three | 15 Nov 2008

Aaron Townsend has maintained his lead at the NSW Open after a third round 2-under-par round of 69 to be at 14 under-par, six strokes ahead of his nearest rival Jamie Arnold.

It’s not the first occasion Townsend’s been in the box set of a Von Nida tournament. In his rookie season in 2003, Townsend finished runner-up at the Queensland PGA Championship and in 2007 was runner-up both in the Western Australian PGA and NSW PGA Championship. Tomorrow he hopes to break that trend and go one better.

“I’ve been close before so I kind of know what to expect,” said Townsend.

“I’m not changing anything with the way that I’m approaching this week. I feel ready for it and I’m playing well. There is no better confidence booster than a win and hopefully I can get one tomorrow.”

Townsend grew up in the region playing his junior golf in Newcastle. Next week he is scheduled to return to the US to play Second Stage of the US Q-School and is confident with his game and where he is heading.

“I’m swinging it well and have been all week,” said Townsend. “It feels like it’s been a long week, but hopefully everything will fall into place before returning to the US.”

Jamie Arnold remains in outright second position at 8-under-par, six strokes behind Townsend.

“I’ll go out there tomorrow and try to win,” said Arnold this evening.

“I putting and driving the ball well and there’s opportunities out there, especially on the back nine to make up ground. I’ll just take it one step at the time and see how it goes.”

Victorian Steve Jones moved to outright 3rd, a stroke behind Arnold, whilst the low round for the day went to Alex Benjamin with a 4-under-par 67. Aaron Black and last week’s winner at the NSW PGA Championship, Timothy Wood are at equal 4th at 5-under-par.

Matthew Griffin continues to play well and is set for another top-10 finish with the rookie professional currently in T6 position at 4-under-par along with Brad Lamb.

With a six stroke lead moving into the final day, Townsend has the benefit of forcing the the field to catch him around an extremely challenging layout. This week he has fired rounds of 63-67-69 to be set to claim his maiden Von Nida Tour victory after being close numerous times before.

“I’m not going to be surprised as to what happens because I’ve played in a lot of final groups and been close before,” said Townsend.

“I know what to expect and that’s half the battle. I will feel much more comfortable out there tomorrow than before and we will just see what happens.”