Date: February 03, 2007
Author: Luke Buttigieg

Kemp fights back

By Luke Buttigieg Sarah Kemp showed plenty of pluck and fight on day three of the MFS Women&aposs Australian Open, the local youngster recovering from a horror back nine the previous day to climb right back up the leaderboard. After heading the field on day one with the round of the tournament so far, a six-under 66, Kemp had moved on to eight-under overall through 26 holes, but she proceeded to crash back to a 78 and even-par with five bogeys and a triple bogey in her final 10 holes. Suddenly six shots adrift of the lead held by world No.3 Karrie Webb at halfway, Kemp may not have eaten into that deficit as Webb signed for an amazing 68 on Saturday, but the 21-year-old impressed with her round nonetheless. Kemp opened with five successive pars before dropping a shot at the sixth, but two holes later she made an eagle two at the eighth hole to regain some momentum, and likewise atoned for a second bogey at 15 with another birdie at the 16th. “I&aposm really happy with that, I guess my goal today was to try and turn around and not do what I did yesterday (Friday) but I&aposm really happy with that, it was really good,” Kemp said after her round. Making Kemp&aposs one-under 71 all the more impressive was that it was one of only seven under-par rounds for the day and was achieved with the wind having a much bigger say than it had on the first two days, making Royal Sydney that much more treacherous. “The wind&aposs picked up, a lot more than the last couple of days, so that really made it a bit harder,” Kemp added. “The greens are still really quick and everything&aposs the same. It was tough, a lot tougher out there than the last couple of days.” On the first two days Kemp says her rounds both went &aposreally quick&apos, the only problem was that the speediness of Friday&aposs performance left her ruing the 78 by the end of the day. “I got it to eight-under at one stage and I felt like I was really in control and everything was going really smoothly and then I kind of got on a bit of a train, a &aposbogey train&apos, and I can&apost even remember really what I was thinking about,” she added. But Kemp changed nothing about her preparation for her third round, the Tuncurry native preferring to get set for the day in the same fashion that she had on the previous two days. And while Webb has moved clear of the field and has made it tough for her challengers on the final day, Kemp has nothing but praise for the 32-year-old who is chasing her third Women&aposs Australian Open crown. “She&aposs been great, I played with her in the first two rounds of the ANZ Ladies Masters last year and she was really nice, she gave me her email address at the end and said that if I ever needed a place to stay that I could come over,” Kemp said. “Every time I see her now we have a quick conversation which is really nice. She&aposs been great and I&aposm extremely happy for her, she&aposs had a fantastic year and she&aposs a good Aussie.” Nine strokes behind Webb with a round to play, Kemp will need to shoot another good score on Sunday and hope Webb doesn&apost have such a good day but, even if that&aposs not the case, Kemp has shown she has a bright future in the game.