Australians blow lead as World Cup teams lashed
SMASHED tee markers and near unplayable bunkers turned World Cup Friday into a fight for survival as Australia’s day one grip on the trophy nearly slipped away.
On Thursday Ian Poulter said the only real way to prepare for alternate shot play was to get ready for a quick round.
The Englishman could not have been more wrong as wicked weather sent combatants to all parts of Metropolitan, and team Australia tumbling from the top of the leaderboard.
Despite the two- ball format rounds for the 28 groups stretched close to five hours thanks to lost balls and waterfilled sand traps.
And after a blistering opening round 62, the Aussie pair of Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith now have to do the catching up they thought they had avoided.
Frustration reached boiling point when Smith sent his drive on the ninth so far right the third fairway loomed as the only way out and he slammed his club in the ground.
The Aussies made par there, but slipped to as many as seven off the lead after an ugly opening nine before rallying late in a second up 76 that was, unlike the weather, hot and cold.
The home team is four shots behind joint leaders Belgium and Korea who both defied the constant wind and rain to remain in double figures at - 10 with just three rounds under par for the day.
“It was pretty brutal,” Leishman said. “I haven’t played in conditions like that for a while, probably a British Open would be the last time.”
Queenslander Smith said he told his partner he was “no good in the cold”, which what his putter was.
“I tried to hang in there. I couldn’t feel my hands,” he said. “That was I think the toughest conditions I think I’ve ever played in Australia.”
Bunker issues plagued the Aussies, twice requiring two shots to escape the sand, and rare birdie putts continued to slide past the hole.
A bogey on the final hole finished a long day for them. is