LOS ANGELES, 14 December 2003 — Ireland’s Padraig Harrington shot seven birdies en route to a second-round best score of five-under 67 on Friday at the World Challenge golf tournament.
Harrington also had two bogeys to move to 3-under 141 for the tournament and a slim lead over tournament host Tiger Woods.
Woods birdied his last hole to complete a second straight round of 71, putting him in a tie for second with first-round leader Davis Love and Chris DiMarco at this unofficial event at Sherwood Country Club which offers a $1.2 million first-place prize.
Woods, who won this tournament two years ago, recovered on Friday after pulling a shot into the water and recording an 8 on the par-5 second hole. He bounced back with six birdies.
Love, who won just over six million dollars this season and was third on the PGA Tour money list behind Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Woods, shot a 72 on Friday.
DiMarco followed a 74 with a 4-under 68. Singh, Canadian Mike Weir, Nick Price of Zimbabwe, Robert Allenby of Australia, K.J. Choi of South Korea and Justin Leonard are tied at 1-under.
Senior Leads by Five After Australian PGA Third Round
Adelaide, Peter Senior will take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the Australian PGA Championship after shooting a third round 69 yesterday.
The veteran Australian golfer followed up his earlier rounds of 64 and 65 to finish at 18-under-par 198.
That left him five shots clear of a group of three players including Wade Ormsby, who stormed up the leaderboard with a course-record equaling nine-under-par 63, ten strokes better than the 73 he had returned on Friday.
Rod Pampling and Craig Parry were also tied on 13-under-par. Pampling dropped two shots in the final five holes after making five birdies to finish with a 69 while Parry fired a 68, including an eagle on the 507-meter fourth hole.
Senior looked to be on course to repeat his low scores of the previous days when he made three birdies on the way out but a string of pars followed by a bogey and a birdie at 18 left him with a 69. Senior said the championship was his to win or lose.
Ormsby, 23, played the front nine in 32 after three birdies in the first five holes and another on the ninth then come home in 31 with five more birdies.
Scott Gardiner drained seven birdies in a round of 65 to join Peter O’Malley (69) at 12-under, two strokes clear of American Ryan Palmer, the leading international.
Former world No. 1 Greg Norman was among a group of six players tied at nine-under-par 207 but conceded he was too far back to win.
Purdy and Lin Share Lead in Volvo Masters of Asia
In Bangkok, American Ted Purdy fired a battling even-par 71 to keep the lead in the $500,000 Volvo Masters of Asia yesterday at Bangkok Golf Club.
Purdy, the leader by five at the start of the third round, was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Taiwan’s Lin Keng-chi, who shot a superb 65. They lead the event on 14-under-par 199 by a stroke from Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Thammanoon Srirot, who played together and both shot 65s.
The Volvo Masters of Asia is the season-ending Tour championship on the Asian PGA Tour and features the top-60 players from the circuit.
Purdy was in blistering form on the first two days, shooting rounds of 62 and 66, but the wheels came off yesterday.
He began well with birdies on the second and sixth but then hit trouble with a triple-bogey seven on the eighth, where he hooked his four-iron second shot out-of-bounds.
They were his first dropped shots of the week. He recovered with a birdie on the next hole but could not get going on the homeward half.
He three putted the 17th for bogey and found water on the par five 18th with his second shot. He led Lin by one playing the last and fancied his chances of making a birdie by reaching the green with a five wood from 217 yards.
However, he leaked the shot right into a lake and had a battle on his hands to make par. A brilliant fourth shot to three feet from 140 yards made sure he secured a five.
