OOSTHUIZEN, VAN DER WALT SHARED AFRICA OPEN ROUND 3 LEAD

Forsyth and Lee joint sixth with a round to go

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Louis Oosthuizen and Tjaart van der Walt both birdied the last to share the lead after a fascinating third round of the Africa Open.
There are two Scots tied for sixth place - Alastair Forsyth and Craig Lee (pictured) - and it must be a long time since that happened with one round to go in a European Tour event.
Defending champion Oosthuizen began the day with a two shot lead, but with favourable scoring conditions once again prevalent at East London Golf Club, the former Open Champion was soon caught.
The 28 year old actually birdied his first three holes, but his lead was halved when van der Walt matched that feat and then went one better at the next.
Remarkably van der Wath’s four under par for the first four holes was a shot worse than he managed on Friday, when he had a hole in one at the second and eagle 3 at the long next.
Both players converted short birdie putts at the seventh, but van der Walt lost his drive in trees to the right at the next and despite a brave third after a penalty drop suffered a bogey.
He birdied the next to turn in 32, and it was Oosthuizen’s turn to produce a wild drive at the 11th as he bogeyed the par five, having needed four shots to find the green.
“It was an elementary mistake really,” he said. “Those little chip-outs seem easy, and I made the basic error of leaving it short of a tree for my approach to the green.”
Van der Walt birdied the same hole to snatch the lead, alongside Retief Goosen, who had seven birdies in his first 13 holes.
But two-time Major Champion Goosen could only par his final five holes, and Oosthuizen fought back with three birdies in the last four as he joined van der Walt on 21 under par.
Goosen, remarkably without a European Tour title for five years, is one further back after a 66, while England’s Danny Willett compiled a 65 to sit fourth on 19 under.
“At the end of the day, the golf ball doesn’t know that they are Major Champions,” said van der Walt on the battle with his two illustrious compatriots.
“I’ve played at the highest level, I’ve never won Majors or big events, so who knows what can happen.”
Van der Walt, who turned professional in 1996, has yet to win a tournament.
“I do feel as if I am controlling the golf ball as well as I have in a long time,” he said. “Not just tee to green, but on the greens as well. And that’s a good sign for me.
“I’m entitled to forget the one bad shot I hit all day [on the eighth]. I hit a bad tee shot, but luckily for me I was able to get a good drop on line of sight. I managed to get it on the green – and almost made the putt.”
The best score of the day belonged to Richard Sterne, the five-time European Tour winner making his first appearance for 11 months after a serious back injury.
There were few signs of rustiness as he produced a fine nine under 64.
Alastair Forsyth has shot 69-66-68 for 203 over a short, par-73 lay-out but that's still a fine set of scores. Craig Lee has matched him at 16-under-par with rounds of 68, 67 and 68.

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 219 (3x73)
Players from South Africa unless stated
198 Louis Oosthuizen 69 62 67, Tjaart Van der Walt 69 64 65.
199 Retief Goosen 65 68 66.
200 Danny Willett (England) 67 68 65.
202 Richard Strerne 69 68 64.
203 Alastair Forsyth (Scotland) 69 66 68, Craig Lee (Scotland) 68 67 68,

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
209 Alan McLean 70 71 68 (T39)
210 David Drysdale 72 69 69, Steven O'Hara 70 70 70 (T50)


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MARTIN LAIRD INTERVIEW AFTER GOOD FIRST DAY AT KAPALUA

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
Post-round interview with Martin Laird who is lying joint second with a six-under-par 67 after the first round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Hawaii.

CHRIS REIMER: Martin, second time playing here, and you seem to be playing this course really well. I think you've played five rounds here, all five under par. Want to talk about the round today and what you like about playing this golf course
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, obviously very pleased with my round today, especially after my start, 2 over through 3, and the wind was not exactly what you want. Pretty much the only two bad shots I hit all day were on 2 and 3, hit it in the bunker both holes off the tee as far as my approach shots, missed kind of short putts for par and then after that played great, really controlled my ball well in the wind.
It's kind of a golf course you hit a lot of shots you don't normally hit. A couple times I had to hit wedge from like 80 yards, 79 yards, a 9 iron from 100 yards, just chipping under the wind and take the spin off it. We were talking about that, you don't really hit any normal shots out there. So it's kind of fun in that sense.
But I obviously got it going the back nine. The difference from the back nine to the front nine was I started leaving myself uphill putts for birdie. I'd rather be 12 feet below the hole than four feet above the hole around here. You can play less break and give it a hit going up the hill, but when you get above the hole you've got to be very careful. That was really the difference between the front nine and the back nine. I didn't hit it any better on the back nine, it's just where I left myself was below the hole more than having breaking putts.
Q. I suspect you grew up playing in the wind. Are you comfortable with that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I grew up playing in the wind, and then moved away from the wind 11 years ago. Most of my golfing life I've not actually been playing in the wind. I got to give a little credit to my coach. He came out just before we came out here. I really didn't my wind game has not been very good the last few years and we figured something out at the end of last year, actually at Chevron, and he came out to Scottsdale before I came out here and fixed a couple things in my swing. Right away my punch shots and wind game has got a lot better than it has been the last couple years. I'm excited about that, and it will allow me to play better in the Open and tournaments like that going forward.
Q. You mentioned Chevron. Did you learn anything specific?
MARTIN LAIRD: When I get in the wind, quite a lot into the wind, I'll miss it left too much. I hit too many hooks, trying to hit punches, trying to keep it down. I've always been a bit of a shut faced player going back, and we really worked on what to me feels like fanning it way open on the way back, setting my wrists a little earlier and fanning it way open, and that way I can control the club face a little better coming down and hit little cuts or draws or whatever shot is needed in the wind.
You know, it's kind of a strange feeling for me. As I said, I've always been a shut faced player going back, to feel like I'm fanning it open. But it's been working, so it starts to feel good pretty quickly when the results are good, and the shots start coming out better.
Q. How much more comfortable do you feel here this year after having played here last year?
MARTIN LAIRD: I was here two years ago, but the
Q. The last two years.
MARTIN LAIRD: But yeah, I felt comfortable here two years ago. I like the golf course. I think it's a fun place to start the year, not just the fact that it's in Maui, but the golf course, it's there's wide fairways and big greens. You can just kind of hit driver every hole, and you know you've got to make a lot of birdies and play kind of aggressive. A couple of drivable par 4s, things like that. It's a course for me I don't know why, I just like hitting a lot of drivers, and it sets up well for me.
Q. Jonathan was 6 under through 8 and then came back a little bit. Is this the kind of course where you can really get on a roll like that? Are there a lot of opportunities like that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I saw he was 6 under through 8. That was very impressive because I wouldn't say the front nine is a nine you can get on a roll. It's the back nine you can really get on a roll. 6 under through 8 today in that wind was good because that front nine was playing a lot tougher I thought than the back nine. But yeah, it's a course you can definitely get on a bit of a roll. As I said, there's two drivable par 4s and all the par 5s are reachable if you hit good drives. It's definitely a course you can make a lot of birdies on.
Q. Was the wind dropping off a little bit did you think in the afternoon?
MARTIN LAIRD: No, it was the same all day pretty much I thought. I can't say we were out there thinking it was blowing less or more. Standing in 18 fairway there it was blowing pretty hard off the right. I wouldn't say it was dropping off. If it did, it wasn't very much at all.
Q. When are we going to see you back in Europe?
MARTIN LAIRD: I don't know right now. I've not confirmed anything, but it's not going to be for a little while yet. I'm going to play the first quarter to third of the year over here, and then head back. Maybe the first one will be the PGA at Wentworth. That's probably going to be the first one that I'll go to back in Europe.
Q. Just wondering if you let your thoughts drift at all to the Ryder Cup.
MARTIN LAIRD: Not when I was out there, no. I mean, it's definitely in my mind this year. That's one of my obviously major goals. But no, I'm not out there I'm going to I'm sure it'll get different when it comes closer and we get to the end of the summer and it's coming down to the last few events.
But I'm just going to go out and play and trying not to think about it right now. It's too early to start thinking about that. If you asked me this question at the start of September or something when I'm right on the edge, I'm sure I'll be thinking about it.
Q. How many different faces have you seen on that golf course? Has the wind been the same any day?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, it's been the same every day for us. That's one thing that's different; two years ago the wind was moving around because I remember No. 1 was playing into the wind and off the left a couple of days, and No. 9 was straight downwind, the complete opposite for that this week. But every day, I got in here Tuesday night, and I played Wednesday, Thursday, and then obviously today, and it's been exact same wind direction, give or take a few degrees.
But it's been pretty much the same all week. And if it does switch, it's a totally different golf course. That's another thing that's fun about this place. Some of the harder holes right now all of a sudden turn into the easy holes and vice versa. It's really two different courses when the wind switches.

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ARNOLD, HENDRY TIED FOR THIRD ROUND LEAD IN VICTORIA OPEN

FROM THE PGA OF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE
Scott Arnold has chased down overnight leader Michael Hendry with the pair finishing the Victorian Open third round tied for the lead at 9-under the card.
Arnold started the day an interminable six shots behind New Zealander Michael Hendry but with five birdies and just one bogey, on his way to a 4-under 67, he was able to diminish this by the end of the round.
“I had a look at the leaderboard and saw that I was seven back at one stage, he was 12 and I was five but I didn’t really worry about it, I just thought keep playing your game and what happens, happens,” said Arnold.
It wasn’t until late in the round, when Hendry had a string of bogeys, that Arnold had the leader in his sights.
“Through the back nine he hit a couple of loose shots and I was able to hole a few putts to keep going and ended up getting back to level now, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
The 26-year old Arnold has played solid golf over the first three rounds which will give him a confidence boost heading into the final round.
“I have been playing really well the last couple of months but haven’t really had any tournaments to play so it’s actually nice to bring the form into a tournament.”
“I don't feel like I did all that much wrong, just Scotty played really well and that's the nature of the game -- you can get caught pretty quickly and you don't have to do that much wrong,” said Hendry.
Struggling in the wind, Hendry’s two-over par round featured five bogeys and just two birdies.
“I've driven it poorly all week and today I think the fluky wind made it tougher to hit my irons close and even hit the greens at some stages.
“I just drove it poorly and missed a few putts, whereas the first two days I've been putting really well and holing those eight-footers for par. But it didn't happen today.”
While he may have given up his immense lead Hendry enters the final round still tied for the lead with the Victorian Open firmly in his sights.
“It's not easy winning golf tournaments because you're always going to have a scratchy round at some stage.
“But I'm still in with a chance to win the tournament and I'm still tied for the lead, so the tournament doesn't really start until the back nine on Sunday as they say, so as long as I can find the fairway tomorrow, I'll be fine.”
Sitting three shots back from the leading pair at 6-under the card are Kurt Barnes and Matthew Ballard.
A further three shots back again at 3-under the card is Craig Parry.

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MARTIN LAIRD SHARING SECOND PLACE AFTER EIGHT-BIRDIE ROUND

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- A new US PGA Tour season began with a familiar name atop the leaderboard Friday at Kapalua.
Defending champion Jonathan Byrd ran off six straight birdies early in his round, then stalled on the back nine and settled for a 6-under 67 that gave him a one-shot lead in the Tournament of Champions.
Byrd hasn't won since his playoff victory a year ago in the season opener. He felt a little uptight starting a new season, wanting to get off to a good start in breezy conditions on the Plantation Course.
But after two holes, he looked as comfortable as ever.
It must have felt as if last season never ended for Webb Simpson, a two-time winner who was second in the FedExCup and on the PGA TOUR money list.
Simpson played the last five holes on the front nine in 5-under par and shot 68 to match Steve Stricker, Michael Bradley and Martin Laird (pictured).
Glasgow-born Laird, who had his 30th birthday on December 29, had eight birdies - five of them over the last seven holes. In all the Scot birdied the fourth, fifth, eighth, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th. He bogeyed the second, third and 11th.
Thirteen players in the 27-man field of 2011 winners broke par in gorgeous conditions along the cliffs of Maui. It's the smallest field since this event moved to Kapalua, hurt by 11 players who didn't or couldn't make it to Maui, and by Lucas Glover having to withdraw Friday morning because of a sprained knee from a paddle board accident last Saturday.
Just like any new season, there was a degree of nervousness and uncertainty, starting with the defending champion.
"You're never sure what you're going to get the first round of the year," Byrd said.
It was nearly a repeat performance from last year, when Byrd started his season with five birdies on the front nine, the holing out a wedge on the 10th for eagle to get to 7 under early in his round before he settled into pars.
This time, the culprit was a bad swing on the ninth fairway when Byrd tried to hit driver off the deck to reach the par-5 green into the wind, and instead found a bunker from 60 yards away that led to a bogey.
He was even more disappointed at the end of the round, when he three-putted for par.
"You're leading the golf tournament and you walk off a hole embarrassed," Byrd said.
Laird had some bad feelings early with consecutive bogeys early in his round, but bounced back with a 33 on the back nine for his 68.
Stricker, at No. 6 the highest-ranked American in the world, put his 5-iron into the gorge on the par-3 eighth for a double bogey, and then he rallied strong. He birdied four of his last five holes.
"I wasn't very happy at the time," Stricker said. "I knew if I could get a good, decent round in -- I was thinking get 3 under or something like that -- I'd be OK. But I got a couple more than that coming in."
US PGA champion Keegan Bradley, the only major champion in the short field, holed out a wedge from short of the ninth green for eagle that sent him to a 69. Only six players broke 70 in what appeared to be relatively good scoring conditions.
The mountainous course was built for trade wind, and while it was breezy, it was not severe. But there are so many newcomers to Kapalua -- a dozen of the 27 players -- that it takes time to sort out the wind, the slope and the grain on the green.
Scott Piercy arrived on Christmas -- he has a vacation place in nearby Kaanapali -- and played the Plantation Course plenty of times to get ready for the new season.
"I saved all my worst shots for today," he said after rallying for a 70.
Gary Woodland drove into the native grass and had to take a penalty drop on the ninth hole. He had 224 yards, up the hill and into a strong wind, and thought he had to blast a 3-wood to have any hope of getting to the green. He blasted it, all right, over the green and into the bleachers, though he managed to escape with par.
Brendan Steele said he picked up on the nuances of golf courses fairly easily in his rookie season. This was unlike any of those courses, however.
"The wind, the grain, the slope ... you can look pretty silly," he said after a 76.
Byrd said he rarely plays well when he feels confident; he's better off feeling uneasy about his game, and that's about how he felt when he woke up Friday morning.
He chunked his opening tee shot and had to make a long two-putt for par, but his fortunes turned quickly. From about 120 yards into the wind on the third hole, he played an 8-iron back in his stance and played a low draw that spun close to the cup and settled about 5 feet away. That was the first of six straight birdies, and just like that, Byrd was back atop the leaderboard.

FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 73
Players from US unless stated
67 Jonathan Byrd
68 Martin Laird (Scotland), Michael Bradley, Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson.
69 Keegan Bradley.

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