Australian Andre Stolz continued to set the pace after the third round of the ANZ Championship at The Lakes in Sydney by extending his lead over compatriot Craig Parry to two points.
Stolz moved to 39 points in the modified stableford format after a round of 69 earned him nine points but while Parry remains his nearest challenger the biggest move came from Sweden’s Richard Johnson who moved within four shots of Stolz after a round of 16 points. Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher, who made a late decision to play at The Lakes lies alongside Johnson in third place on 35 points after picking up 13 points in the third round.
Stolz, whose wife Cathy Nielson – a fellow professional golfer – is caddieing for him, played some exceptional golf in the second round, but he was more controlled in the third round as he maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard. Only the one bogey, on the 17th, completed a round of 69.
“I played quite nice today hitting some good shots,” Stolz said “For me, I’m always happy when I’m in pretty good control of my game and the rhythm is there.”
Parry started badly with four bogeys and just a sole birdie on the front nine but then moved up a gear with five birdies on the back nine to stay well in the hunt.
“I could feel the event slipping away a bit there on the front nine,” he said. “But I just thought that I wasn’t playing strokeplay, so I just went on the attack and started shooting some low scores which was good.”
Gallacher, the nephew of Ryder Cup Captain Bernard Gallacher, said he had never been away for a month before but felt he was hitting the ball well and decided to play the extra week in Australia. The decision seems to have paid off as he reeled in five birdies in the last eight holes as he chases his maiden European Tour title.
Johnson birdied the 13th and eagled the 14th to pick up seven points in two holes. He then birdied 17 to finish his round with 16 points, the best of the day. His round of 66 was actually the equal-best round of the day, but more birdies from the Swede meant he gathered more points than either Nick O’Hern or Peter O’Malley.
