Sim and Allenby lead in Australia
Published:
ABERDONIAN Michael Sim and Robert Allenby have a two-shot lead going into the final round of the 2008 Australian Masters at Huntingdale.
Chasing his third Masters title, Allenby landed an albatross – only the third on the Australasian Tour in the past 20 years – en route to a five-under 67.
Allenby holed his 223-metre three-wood second shot at the par-five seventh.
But alongside him at 10 under is his third-round playing partner Sim, the 24-year-old former World No1 amateur who is finally starting to realise his potential after two years disrupted by stress fractures in his lower back.
Sim’s day did not start well – he bogeyed the first and the third and when Allenby’s albatross dropped, Sim had slipped five behind his partner.
But Sim worked his way back into it with a hat-trick of birdies at six, seven and eight and began to believe that something special was happening when he dropped a 10-metre putt for eagle at the 555-metre par-five 14th on his way to a 6.
“I just hit the ball solid today, a lot of fairways, a lot of greens and just gave myself a lot of opportunities,” was Sim’s simple summation of his round.
The stakes and the pressure will be ramped up when Sim and Allenby pair up again tomorrow for what Sim believes may develop into matchplay.
“You’ve just got to stick to your game plan,” he said.
“It’s the first time for me in a final group and that’s going to be different.
“There’s going to be people out there supporting Robert because he’s from Victoria and I’ve just got to stay in the moment, stay within each shot and if it happens, it happens.”
Ashley Hall sits alone in third two shots off the pace following his 68 today, while Rod Pampling (70), Anthony Summers (71) and Englishman Steve Webster (70) are at seven under.
