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Jordan Zunic is the man to beat at the Isuzu Queensland Open after shooting a round of 6-under 65 to lead the tournament by an impressive five shots.
Starting the third round with a share of the lead on 7-under, Zunic streaked away from the pack, his course record-equalling round of 65 catapulted him to 13-under the card.
“It was great out there for three quarters of the day but that north easterly started to blow the last four or five holes,” said Zunic.
“I was kind of glad it did because it was so hot when it was calm so it was nice when the breeze came but obviously shot making became a little bit trickier. Overall I’m really happy today, hopefully more tomorrow and I can get the job done.”
With such a big buffer, the blueprint for tomorrow’s final round at The Brisbane Golf Club won’t change for the the two-time ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia winner.
“My game plan has worked pretty well all week so I’ll stick with that, wind dependant obviously, if that changes it’ll change everything. I’m really happy with my shots and lines I’m taking off the tees so if I just keep rolling my putts in like I have been and give myself some looks at birdie I should be pretty good.”
Adam Blyth had a front row seat to Zunic’s round, his round of 1-under the card certainly not reflective of some brilliant golf the Queenslander produced under pressure with a number of impressive par saves.
“That was probably the highlight for me today, it’s one of those things when you’re a little off you’ve got to hang in somehow and I was able to do that,” said Blyth.
“I had some fantastic up and downs which saved me and allows me to have an outside chance tomorrow.
“Looking back I’m not hitting good shots and it’s putting me in those positions, I’ve got to fix that up tomorrow. It’s great to make those par saves but I want to be making birdies tomorrow.”
With five shots to make up, Blyth said he’ll need to be thinking his way around the golf course rather than blasting it off the tees if he’s a chance of snatching the title.
“I’m a little behind, Jordan was fantastic today, he made the putts and got the job done, I just made a couple of mistakes whereas he capitalised on all his chances.
“You’ve got to be sensible because it’s not a course you can get too aggressive on or it’ll bite you so I’ve got to be ‘smart aggressive’ and I’ve just got to hole putts.”
Joining Blyth on 8-under the card is Queensland-based New South Welshman Steven Jeffress, he shot 5-under 66.
“My day was good, I played pretty solid and putted really nicely, I feel like I left a couple out there,” said Jeffress.
“A couple of bogeys, one on the 13th after I hit a corker of a shot into there, I just hit a hard part of the green and went over the back and didn’t get up and down.
“I didn’t hit too many poor shots, I was just solid all day.”
Jeffress said he will knuckle down and focus on his own game when he tees off in the final group alongside Blyth and runaway leader Zunic
“I’m not too worried about what happens at the top of the leaderboard to tell you the truth, I’m just going to come out and play that’s what I’ve been doing all week.
“But if Jordan goes out and plays well tomorrow from here, he’s going to be hard to catch.”
Tied on 7-under the card are the U.S. based pair of Web.com Tour players Jamie Arnold, who shot 6-under 65 and Rhein Gibson who shot 1-under 70 today.
Jake McLeod, a member of The Brisbane Golf Club, Troy Moses, Ryan Chisnall, Michael Wright and amateurs Joel Stahlhut and Zach Murray are tied at sixth place on 6-under the card.
The leading group of Jordan Zunic, Adam Blyth and Steve Jeffress will tee off at 10:50am.