BRIAN HARMAN'S BIG LEAD CUT TO ONE IN MOROCCO TEMPEST
By Stewart Moore of the eGOLF TOUR WEBSITE
El Jadida, Morocco – On a day when players in the eGolf Tour’s $250,000 El Jadida Classic were pelted with heavy rain and 30 mph winds, 18- and 36-hole leader Brian Harman, a former US Walker Cup team member, managed to gut out a 3-over 75 to keep his name at the top of a stacked leaderboard.
With a six-shot lead trimmed down to one, Harman will look to capture his second career eGolf Tour title, an exemption into the European Tour’s King Hassan II Trophy next month, and the $40,000 first-place prize in Tuesday’s final round of the history-making event.
The tournament is the third of 18 events on the 2011 eGolf Tour schedule, and is the second of two tournaments contested in Morocco. The first event, the Samanah Classic, was contested last week in Marrakech, with Chris McCartin of Arlington, Virginia winning.
The two events mark the first time that a United States-based tour has conducted multiple stroke play events on the continent of Africa.
Today's third round of the El Jadida Classic began with a one-hour weather delay following early morning rain that saturated much of the Pullman Royal golf course. When Harman peaked outside of his hotel window, he knew it was going to be a long day.
“When I first woke up, I didn’t really think we would be playing golf today,” said the 24-year-old Harman, who was staying adjacent to the course. “It eventually quit for a while, but then it kicked back up once we got going.”
Once the final group got going, Harman’s lead began shrinking.
Bogeys on three of his first five holes took the Savannah, Georgia native from a commanding six-shot lead back down into a tie for the lead with Derek Fathauer. A key up-and-down par on the par-4 sixth would give Harman a brief respite from the slide, and back-to-back birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 would push him back to just 1-over on his round.
A bogey at the par-4 ninth gave Harman a front-nine 38, which left him squarely tied with Fathauer, who had posted a 4-under 32 on the wet and windy outward nine.
With a back nine available for the taking, Harman did his best to make up some ground. Bogeys at 12 and 14 served as bookends to a birdie at the par-3 13th, but Harman added yet another bogey at the par-3 16th to fall to 4-over on his day.
“I had some chances to get it back to even par on the back nine, but couldn’t convert,” said Harman. “I made some mistakes down the stretch and really failed to take advantage of some opportunities.”
At the par-5 18th, Harman finished with an emphatic birdie for a third-round 75 and a 54-hole total of 8-under 208.
He leads by one from Germany's Christopher Trunzer, who posted a stellar third-round 69 to move to 7-under 209.Trunzer, of German descent but now residing in Orlando, competed in his first career eGolf Tour event just last week at the Samanah Classic and posted rounds of 69-71-68-71—279 en route to a T15 finish.
TO VIEW ALL THE THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
CLICK HERE
El Jadida, Morocco – On a day when players in the eGolf Tour’s $250,000 El Jadida Classic were pelted with heavy rain and 30 mph winds, 18- and 36-hole leader Brian Harman, a former US Walker Cup team member, managed to gut out a 3-over 75 to keep his name at the top of a stacked leaderboard.
With a six-shot lead trimmed down to one, Harman will look to capture his second career eGolf Tour title, an exemption into the European Tour’s King Hassan II Trophy next month, and the $40,000 first-place prize in Tuesday’s final round of the history-making event.
The tournament is the third of 18 events on the 2011 eGolf Tour schedule, and is the second of two tournaments contested in Morocco. The first event, the Samanah Classic, was contested last week in Marrakech, with Chris McCartin of Arlington, Virginia winning.
The two events mark the first time that a United States-based tour has conducted multiple stroke play events on the continent of Africa.
Today's third round of the El Jadida Classic began with a one-hour weather delay following early morning rain that saturated much of the Pullman Royal golf course. When Harman peaked outside of his hotel window, he knew it was going to be a long day.
“When I first woke up, I didn’t really think we would be playing golf today,” said the 24-year-old Harman, who was staying adjacent to the course. “It eventually quit for a while, but then it kicked back up once we got going.”
Once the final group got going, Harman’s lead began shrinking.
Bogeys on three of his first five holes took the Savannah, Georgia native from a commanding six-shot lead back down into a tie for the lead with Derek Fathauer. A key up-and-down par on the par-4 sixth would give Harman a brief respite from the slide, and back-to-back birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 would push him back to just 1-over on his round.
A bogey at the par-4 ninth gave Harman a front-nine 38, which left him squarely tied with Fathauer, who had posted a 4-under 32 on the wet and windy outward nine.
With a back nine available for the taking, Harman did his best to make up some ground. Bogeys at 12 and 14 served as bookends to a birdie at the par-3 13th, but Harman added yet another bogey at the par-3 16th to fall to 4-over on his day.
“I had some chances to get it back to even par on the back nine, but couldn’t convert,” said Harman. “I made some mistakes down the stretch and really failed to take advantage of some opportunities.”
At the par-5 18th, Harman finished with an emphatic birdie for a third-round 75 and a 54-hole total of 8-under 208.
He leads by one from Germany's Christopher Trunzer, who posted a stellar third-round 69 to move to 7-under 209.Trunzer, of German descent but now residing in Orlando, competed in his first career eGolf Tour event just last week at the Samanah Classic and posted rounds of 69-71-68-71—279 en route to a T15 finish.
TO VIEW ALL THE THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
CLICK HERE
Labels: PRO GOLF
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, March 14, 2011
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