GOLF: Su Oh carded an impressive 66 to keep Australia’s hopes of a first Olympic golf medal alive, joining compatriot Minjee Lee five shots off bronze going into the final round.
In increasingly gusty conditions at the Olympic Golf Course in Barra de Tijuca, the 20-year-old holed six birdies in the first half of the third round on Friday to rocket up the women’s leaderboard before playing solidly in the back nine to register seven consecutive pars.
A fine approach shot at the par five 18th then allowed her to strike her seventh birdie for the day to finish four under par overall.
Minjee Lee, who started the day four shots off the leaders, endured a horror start. After a fine birdie on the first, Lee bogeyed the second and then found the water twice in two shots on her way to a triple bogey at the third. A bogey on the fourth hole meant that she had dropped five shots in three holes to fall to two under.
Lee recovered to fire back-to-back birdies on five and six before 12 consecutive pars steadied the ship for the Perth native to finish alongside Oh on -4.
“We’ll have to see whether that round is good enough for me to be challenging for a medal,” said Oh.
“The back nine is playing so much tougher than the front nine. When I finished five under for the day after the first nine I was obviously hoping for a few more birdies. But then I felt that birdies were not really an option – I thought “just get it up and onto the green safely and two-putt home”.
“It was hard coming in especially on 12, 13 and 14. Not only is it hard to get onto the green but putting is also hard. I backed away so many times because of the gusts – you just have to be patient.
“My caddy Mike Clayton, who is a golf architect, just said to me once you can get yourself into trouble, then you can keep on getting yourself into more trouble. So if you do, just get yourself back into play and I think I did that well today.”
Oh admitted that calm weather tomorrow would hit her prospects of winning a medal. However, with inclement weather forecast for Saturday prompting event organisers to discuss ‘split tees’, Oh is relishing the chance to close the gap on the leaders.
“I guess I’m hoping for weather that is not so great. You know that if you play well then there won’t be so many players playing well themselves. If you do your job then you’re a chance, but if the weather is good then the leaders will be hard to catch.
“I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow. I’ve got myself a little closer to where I want to finish. Hopefully we’ll get a good steak dinner and I’ll be ready.”
Korea’s Inbee Park leads the field on -11 with world number one Lydia Ko from New Zealand – who struck a hole in one on the par three 8th – two shots back tied with Gerina Piller (USA).
Leaderboard (after three rounds):
1st – 11 under par: I Park (KOR)
T2 – 9 under: L Ko (NZ), G Piller (USA)
4th – 8 under: S Feng (CHN)
5th – 5 under: C Hull (GBR)
T8 – 4 under: M Lee (AUS), S Oh (AUS)
Steve Stammers
olympics.com.au