Moving day it was for the Aussies today in round three of the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne. Having spent the morning with his Mum, the first time he had seen her since the tradegy of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines that wiped out a number of members of the Day family, the 26 year old Queenslander shared the round of the day with a five-under 66 and holds a one-shot lead at nine-under.
Day’s round included six birdies and just one bogey on the 5th. Making the turn in 33, a stretch of three birdies on the back nine between holes 13-17 saw him turn in a 66 to accompany his earlier rounds of 68 and 70.
The other hot man on course was Italian Francesco Molinari who backed up a 67 yesterday with an impressive 66 today. Molinari is coming from a long way back after a 75 in the opening round but with nine-under par in the past two days, the 31 year old has moved into 4th at five-under, trailing Day by four strokes.
Meanwhile another high profile player, Ireland’s Graeme McDowell also found form with a four-under 67 to move into a tie for 5th at three-under. A pair of 68’s were shared by Adam Scott and American Matt Kuchar who were the features of last week’s Talisker Masters also at Royal Melbourne. Kuchar is 3rd at six-under and will be keen to make up for his collapse on the final hole of the Masters last Sunday that handed Scott the Gold Jacket.
Similar to Molinari, Scott has had to play himself back into the top section of the leader board after a round one four-over 75. The world no.2 is now tied for 8th at -2. Despite it being a substantial task to win the individual component from seven shots back of teammate Day, Scott’s play has helped put the Aussie pairing in front of the Americans by one shot at -10.
The team’s component is shaping up to be a classic two-horse race between the Australian’s and American’s with only two other countires, Japan (-4) and Denmark (-2) in red figures.
Scott will tee off at 12:15pm, three groups later Jason Day will start his quest to win both the individual and team World Cup at 12:45pm.