Hot putter fires Ormsby ahead at Fiji International

>> SUVA: Wade Ormsby surprised even himself as his putter ran hot on the homeward stretch to take the outright lead after the third round of the Fiji International yesterday.

The 37-year-old fired a six-underpar 66 to finish the day at 10-under 206, one stroke ahead of fellow Australian Jason Norris who lost the tournament lead when he made a triple bogey on the 16th hole.

“It was a bit of a surprise coming up the last. I hadn’t seen too many leaderboards for the day but obviously very happy with it,” said Ormsby, who had seven birdies in his last 11 holes.

“I didn’t think I would be in that position after seven holes, I was getting a bit frustrated but the putter started to get a bit hot so I started to move in the right direction.

“I t hink everyone who has played golf knows that when the putts start dropping you get happier out there.”

James Marchesani also finished strongly, making six birdies on the back nine in a round of 67 to move into third place, two strokes behind Ormsby at eight-under.

Gavin Hend, one of four co-leaders at the halfway stage, shot an evenpar 72 to be tied with Peter Wilson and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent at seven-under.

Former Masters champions Mike Weir (69), Angel Cabrera (72) and Vijay Singh (73) probably have too much ground to make up to challenge in today’s final round at six, seven and 10 shots off the pace.

The US$1.14 million tournament is tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.