Jordan Spieth is ready to apply the blowtorch after positioning himself beautifully for another final-round Australian Open push.
The two-time major winner recovered from a sloppy start at Royal Sydney to carve out an impressive four-under-par 68 in the third round to sit just two behind leader Geoff Ogilvy in a tie for second.
Ominously, after claiming to have felt "brainless" on the greens during the first two rounds, the Texan warned on Saturday he was coming to grips with the poa annua grass in the nick of time.
"I felt more comfortable when I was putting today. I still missed a couple of short ones but certainly felt more comfortable there," Spieth said after rolling in six birdies.
"My driving went a bit off today but it will come back tomorrow. My short game, wedges and iron play were pretty solid.
"So after being one over through the first five holes and really being all over the golf course, I really could have been three or four over at that point and turned it around into a four-under round.
"I'm very pleased with being at nine under right this second."
Pleased but not content, with the 2014 Open champion and 2015 runner-up planning to go all out to get his hands on the Stonehaven Cup for a second time.
Despite predicting a winning score of about 12 under on Thursday, Spieth suspects he'll probably need to shoot in the mid-60s to reel in Ogilvy and keep the rest of the chasing pack at bay.
"I like the position we're in," Spieth said.
"Maybe we can make a few mid-range putts tomorrow. I made one mid-range, really, this week, and that was my putt on 14 today.
"I made a couple of putts from about 10, 12 feet as well. So if we roll in a few and those guys are kind of backed up on the tee, that can put pressure on and it can actually be advantageous being the group in front.
"So that's the goal."
Share
