Kirk, Herman lead Moonah Classic
FINGAL, Australia– American Chris Kirk was 10 shots back of leader Jim Herman entering Saturday’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 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 m.p.h.
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 Saturday’s 26-putt performance. “As bad as the putting was yesterday, it was that good Saturday.”
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 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 (Tenn.) 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, Ga. off the southeast U.S. coast since 2007, 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 Saturday. 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 and PGA Tour star, Davis, is also a good friend to Kirk.
First- and second-round leader Herman found the going much tougher Saturday. 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 Saturday,” 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 7th.
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 Notes:
* Golf Channel will air tape-delayed third- and fourth-round coverage in the United States on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 6:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. ET.
* The last group will tee off at 11:30 a.m. in Australia (which is 7:30 p.m. in the eastern time zone in the U.S.).
* Michael Hill New Zealand Open winner Robert Gates had one of the day’s better rounds. A 69 moved him up the leaderboard from T37 to T7.
* The par-4 9th and par-5 18th were the hardest holes on Saturday, both playing .347 over par.
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