Scott is aware of he’s on the clock.
Pretty much as good as his physique seems and feels, it received’t final ceaselessly. As constant as he’s been all through his profession, he hasn’t received a event within the COVID period. For the previous 12 months, he felt like he needed to be completely good simply to maintain tempo with the younger bucks swarming skilled golf.
Saturday supplied one other instance of how onerous it may be for the 40-somethings to win today. Lee (-17) has one hand on the Joe Kirkwood Cup after a 3rd spherical five-under 66, extending his result in three strokes from Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino (-14). He barely raised a sweat in doing so.
The longer the event goes, the extra snug Lee seems, and the extra the tempo stretches Scott (-11), who had a day of close to misses for an even-par 71. Lee was strolling in putts like he was Tiger Woods. Scott is without doubt one of the few who can keep in mind what it was like in opposition to The Cat in his pomp.
Late within the third spherical after what was shaping as a stable day, Scott stumbled with two bogeys in three holes, and Lee stored pouring on the stress. Lee began the day one shot forward of Scott and ended six up on him.
“The momentum actually modified and Min had a few birdies [on the back nine],” stated Scott, who lipped out for birdie on the final. “We went from being fairly shut, and I’m a great distance again now. I’ve obtained quite a lot of work to do [on Sunday]. Somebody’s going to run sizzling early. Hopefully, it’s me.”
After he made birdie on 16 and Scott scuffed his option to a bogey, Lee pumped his fist and walked underneath the tunnel to the get together gap seventeenth the place Eye Of The Tiger blasted from the audio system.
Each Lee and Scott flew their wedges lengthy for his or her balls to relaxation on the backside of a grandstand stuffed with well-marinated Queenslanders earlier than signing for pars.
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Requested whether or not he felt it was his event to lose, Lee stated: “I imply, yeah. [Sunday] is one other day and I can simply management what I do.
“I anticipated myself to play fairly properly. I’ve been hitting the ball properly all 12 months. [The Australian PGA] is certainly on the schedule. Any win is superior. I’ve the potential to win, however I solely have three wins, so it’s not prefer it comes typically. Any time you win it’s an incredible feeling.”
Simply ask Scott. If he can discover one from right here, the one-handed sausage roll chip would be the least of his get together tips.
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