NATIONWIDE TOUR'S MOONAH CLASSIC

Kirk's 65 rockets him into share of lead with Herman

FROM THE GOLFWEEK.COM WEBSITE
By Jeff Adams, US PGA TOUR Staff
FINGAL, Victoria, Australia -- American Chris Kirk was 10 shots back of leader Jim Herman entering today's third round of the Nationwide Tour's Moonah Classic. When the last putt dropped, he found himself tied for the lead.
Kirk and Herman enter Sunday's finale with 9-under-par scores of 207 after three trips around the Moonah Links course.
Four shots back at 5 under are Scott Gutschewski of Nebraska and three Aussies -- defending champion Alistair Presnell, last week's runner-up in New Zealand, Andrew Dodt, and popular Jarrod Lyle.
Playing 90 minutes ahead of Herman, Kirk posted the day's best score by three shots, a 7-under-par 65 to leap 26 spots up the leaderboard. Winds were prevalent once again on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne, gusting up to 30 mph.
The 2007 Ben Hogan Award winner as college player of the year got off to a fast start with birdies on holes 2, 3, 4 and 6 with putts ranging from 3 feet to 20 feet. The University of Georgia graduate added three more on the back nine to complete a bogey-free round.
After a disappointing 32 putts on Friday, Kirk spent more than two hours on the putting green. "Practice has never paid off as much as yesterday's session did," he said of today's 26-putt performance. "As bad as the putting was yesterday, it was that good today."
Kirk is coming off the most disappointing year of his young golfing life. In 13 Nationwide Tour starts in 2009, he made only four cuts. Solid play at December's PGA Tour National Qualifying Tournament secured his Nationwide Tour privileges for 2010.
"I don't know what went wrong last year. If I knew, I wouldn't have done it," he said matter-of- factly.
In 2008, he nearly won the Nationwide Tour's Knoxville Open in the town he was born in, losing to Lyle in a playoff. The rest of that season was not to his liking either, as he finished with 10 cuts made in 19 starts.
A resident of Sea Island, Georgia, Kirk is not intimidated by the winds he is facing this week. "The wind was affecting everything," he said. "At times it becomes a guessing game. I made a lot of good guesses today. I always tell myself that the key in wind is to not hit it hard."
When Kirk needs an eye to look at his swing, he turns to good friend, Mark Love, who also lives at Sea Island. Kirk has not had a formal instructor relationship since he left Atlanta for UGA several years ago. Love's brother, Davis Love III, is also a good friend to Kirk.
First-and second-round leader Herman found the going much tougher today. Near flawless through the first two rounds, he suffered his first bogey of the tournament on the first hole when his approach spun off the green. Two more front nine bogeys dropped him to 9 under, but the lead remained his at the turn. Herman righted the ship over the final nine, shooting 36 to complete a round of 75.
"It was very difficult today," Herman said. "I was trying to stay positive but I knew it was going to be a grind. My 75 was not that bad a round."
"I'm not accustomed to this position but you've got to thrive in these situations," he said. "It's been a year since I've been near the lead but I've played well over here (Australia and New Zealand) at this time of year."
Steven Jones of Australia, who began the day three shots back in second place, stumbled to a 77. He is among 11 players tied for seventh.
The 156-player Moonah Classic is co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, with the field split evenly between the two tours.
THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
207 Jim Herman 62 70 75, Chris Kirk 70 72 65
211 Andrew Dodt 69 74 68, Scott Gutschewski 69 71 71, Jarrod Lyle 68 71 72, Alistair Presnell 71 70 70
212 Joe Affrunti 70 72 70, Anthony Brown 70 71 71, Andrew Buckle 69 68 75, Robert Gates 71 72 69, Fabian Gomez 69 68 75 (Arg), Doug LaBelle II 69 69 74, Scott Laycock 69 72 71, Tag Ridings 70 71 71, Andre Stolz 66 72 74, Phil Tataurangi 71 71 70 (Nzl)
213 Stephen Dartnall 74 71 68, Jon Mills 68 70 75 (Can), Gareth Paddison 68 71 74 (Nzl), Scott Stallings 71 70 72, Manuel Villegas 71 72 70 (Col)
214 Jeff Brehaut 70 71 73, Bradley Iles 68 74 72 (Nzl), Skip Kendall 70 70 74, Stephen Leaney 70 73 71, Martin Piller 71 71 72, Stephen Poole 70 72 72
215 James Hahn 69 72 74, Leigh McKechnie 71 72 72, Matthew Millar 70 71 74, Craig Parry 73 70 72, Craig Scott 70 69 76
216 Steve Allan 69 76 71, Mitchell Brown 69 70 77, Trevor Murphy 69 72 75, Jin Park 69 75 72 (SKor), Hamish Robertson 71 72 73 (Nzl)
217 Keegan Bradley 71 73 73, Jim Carter 67 76 74, Ken Duke 70 75 72, Michael Hendry 72 73 72 (Nzl), Mark Hensby 70 74 73, Luke Hickmott 71 71 75, Peter Lonard 71 73 73, Andrew Martin 71 72 74, David Smail 69 75 73 (Nzl), Aaron Townsend 68 71 78
218 Jess Daley 72 70 76, Matthew Griffin 71 73 74, David Hearn 68 76 74 (Can), Paul Sheehan 67 74 77, Anthony Summers 72 72 74, Tim Wood 70 73 75
219 Aaron Watkins 71 74 74, Peter Wilson 70 73 76
220 Stephen Collins 72 73 75, Adam Crawford 70 75 75, Kevin Kisner 72 73 75, Peter Tomasulo 71 73 76
221 D.J. Brigman 71 73 77, Chris Campbell 72 73 76, Martin Doyle 72 73 76, Jeff Gallagher 69 73 79, Bob May 72 73 76, Gary Simpson 68 76 77, Darron Stiles 68 74 79
222 Ryan Armour 68 72 82, Scott Brown 76 69 77, Chris Gaunt 71 73 78
223 Kelly Grunewald 69 76 78, Bobby MacWhinnie 67 78 78
224 Ted Brown 70 75 79 (Can)
227 Adam Bland 72 73 82