Another steady day for SA at WATC in Adelaide

South Africa held onto 10th position, on the team leader board, with their second consecutive round of level par, after the third round of 2008 Eisenhower Trophy being played in Adelaide, Australia.

Dylan Frittelli and Cameron Johnston, playing the Grange Golf Club’s West Course, both recorded level par 72, for a team score of 144. This gave South Africa a 54 hole aggregate of 430, three under par, and tied in 10th place along with Wales.

Scotland continued their dominant form of yesterday putting a four shot cushion between them and the United States. After a four under 140 today, Scotland now have a 54 hole aggregate of 413, twenty one under par.

“The wind made things very difficult today,” said team captain Enver Hassen.

This was supported by the comments made by Dylan Frittelli after his round. “When we were playing the second or third hole I saw players on hole 9 hit their drives to about 70 metres from the green. In the time it took us to get to the 9th, the wind turned to the extent that our drives all ended up about 130 metres from the green,” explained the SA Boys Champion and leading South African on the individual performance leader board.

18 year Frittelli’s card, at first glance, indicates a steady round. Starting from the 10th tee, he went out in regulation, carding one birdie and bogey, doing the same, coming in, for his round of 72. “My card does not tell the full story,” quipped the Irene Country Club member. “I really struggled today. I only hit 8 or 9 greens in regulation in my round, my one saving grace was when I needed a putt I managed to make it.”

Cameron Johnston was quite up beat about his round after returning his score card. Speaking on the phone from Adelaide he said, “I played quite well today. I was very disappointed with the way I finished, 3 putting 9th green.” The 37 year old Milnerton Golf Club member got caught in a bunker at 17, and like yesterday, resulted in his double bogey. “The sand is very inconsistent from one bunker to the next,” he pointed out, “along with the steep faces, makes it very difficult to recover.” Johnston’s scorecard also included five birdies and three bogeys in his round of 72. “The greens however are very pure, you have nowhere to hide, nothing but the right line and strength gets the ball into the hole.”

Jacques Blaauw had a round to forget. He clawed his way around the golf course in 80, eight over par, recording nine bogeys and one solitary birdie. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong,” said the very disappointed 22 year Paarl Golf Club member. “I felt I was swinging OK, just if I could get a bad bounce I did. In one bunker I had no sand under my ball,” lamented the Glacier SA Amateur and SA Stroke Play champion.

Rickie Fowler (US) still heads the individual leaderboard, on 205, twelve under par. He recorded a two under par 70 today. His lead has been reduced to one shot, by Wallace Booth (Scotland) who had a 69.

The best performing South African is Dylan Frittelli, three under par 214, good enough for 15th place tied with Matthew Griffin (Australia).

Tomorrow, the final round will be played, with all the teams that played Grange Golf Club today moving over to Royal Adelaide Golf Club. The draw will again be seeded on today’s scores.

World Amateur Team Championship:
Eisenhower Trophy
Leading team scores (par: 434 (146, 144, 144)) after the 3nd round are as follows:
(All leading teams played Grange Golf Club (West Course) today)

413 (-21) Scotland (136,137,140)
417 (-17) United States (136,137,144)
421 (-13) Sweden (142,140,139)
423 (-11) New Zealand (143,138,142)
425 (-9) Australia (147,137,141)
426 (-8) Italy (147,141,138), Spain (145,141,140)
428 (-6) France (139,148,141)
429 (-5) Netherlands (145,142,142)
431 (-3) Wales (139,144,148), South Africa (141,146,144)
432 (-2) England (145,141,146), Canada (146,144,142), Argentina (151,135,146).

Individual Competition:
Leading scores (par: 217 (73,72, 72)) after 3nd round are as follows:

205 (-12) Rickie Fowler (US) (68,67,70)
206 (-11) Wallace Booth (SCO) (70,67,69)
210 (-7) Jesper Kennegard (SWE) (70,72,68), Callum Macaulay (SCO) (67,70,73)
211 (-6) Danny Lee (NZL) (70,71,70), Pedro Orlot (ESP) (73,70,68)
212 (-5) Jared Pender (NZL) (73,67,72), Nick Taylor (CAN) (73,71,68)
213 (-4) Victor Dubuisson (FRA) (72,74,67), Jorge Fernandez Valdes (ARG) (76,67,70), Matthew Griffin (AUS) (72,71,70), Jamie Lovemark (US) (68,70,75), Henrik Norlander (SWE) (74,68,71), Yuki Usami (JPN) (71,71,71)
212 (-3) Dylan Frittelli (RSA) (71,71,72), Nicolas Geyger (Chile) (73,70,71)

South African scores:
225 (+8) Jacques Blaauw (70,75,80)
226 (+9) Cameron Johnston (79,75,72)