Westwood joins Rumford at the top
PERTH: Former world No. 1 Lee Westwood and defending champion Brett Rumford continued to lead the way at the AUS$1.75mil (RM5.4mil) World Super 6 Perth.
The pair will play together for a third day in a row today after sharing the lead at the end of the second round at eight-under.
They were one stroke ahead of four players on seven-under – Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, Australian Lucas Herbert, Scotland’s Grant Forrest and Thailand’s Prom Meesawat.
Meesawat was joint leader until the 18th, which he bogeyed.
In challenging conditions Westwood shot a two-under 70 to join Rumford, who couldn’t replicate his first round of 64 and shot 72, in the lead.
The Brit, who chipped in on the fourth and sixth holes, said the wind made low scoring difficult.
“I know the wind can really pick up in Perth but you don’t expect it to blow quite as strong as it’s blown today and it was tricky out there,” Westwood said.
“You really have to have your wits about you.” The unique tri-sanctioned European Tour tour- nament sees the top 24 after the first three rounds of strokeplay undertake matchplay on the final day to decide the winner.
The top eight qualifiers have a bye in the first round of matchplay tomorrow.
Rumford, who led by five strokes at the end of qualifying last year, held a two-stroke lead after 14 holes, but Westwood joined him with an eagle on the 15th.
A Rumford bogey on the 17th handed the Brit the lead, only for Westwood to also drop a stroke after missing a 2m putt on the last hole.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat started brilliantly as one of the early groups on the course and briefly held the lead when he moved to nine-under.
However, four bogeys in a row on the back nine saw him drop back to finish at five-under.
Kiradech’s countryman Pavit Tangkamolprasert provided the day’s highlight with a hole-in-one on the 17th on his way to being three-under.
Local amateur Minn Woo Lee is also wellplaced to reach the final day, the 19-year-old shooting 70 to be five-under. — AFP