MELBOURNE, Australia — Lucas Herbert relinquished his outright lead at the Australian Open and will advance to the final round tied with American Ryggs Johnston while South Korea’s Jiyai Shin took the lead at the Australian Open. Women’s Australia which is played simultaneously on two courses in the famous Melbourne. sand belt.
Johnston shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to tie Herbert, who could only manage an even par 72, to share the lead at 14 under at Kingston Heath, which hosts the final two rounds after touring with Victoria Golf Club during the first two rounds.
“A little frustrating but really no lost ground. I’m still in the lead,” said Herbert, who had been in the lead since the first lap. “I might have let a few more people back in the tournament, but I’m still in the lead, still where I want to be, so yeah, good result after a frustrating day.”
Johnston made six birdies in 12 holes Saturday before a seven at the par-5 14th halted his momentum at Kingston Heath, which will host the 2028 Presidents Cup.
The 24-year-old Montana native, currently ranked 953rd, recently graduated from the DP World Tour qualifying school, which Johnston said helped him deal with the stress of having a first professional win in view.
“I’ve been in some pretty stressful situations for a while now, trying to get my card through Q-school – this final round is one of the most stressful and I did pretty well,” he said declared. “I just try to take that with me and use it as something that I look back on and kind of tell myself that, hey, there’s a lot of people watching, a lot of pressure, but you can always do it.
Defending men’s champion Joaquin Niemann had the day’s round, shooting a 64 to enter contention two shots behind, after starting his round 10 shots behind.
The Chilean was tied for third at 12 under with last week’s Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie (69), Finland’s Oliver Lindell (69), Australia’s Jasper Stubbs (68) and China’s Wenyi Ding (68).
2022 Open champion Cameron Smith shot 76 to continue his poor run from the back nine on Friday and was 12 shots behind the leaders.
The Australian had bogeys on the first, third and eighth holes and two more bogeys on the 10th and 17th, for just one birdie, and will finish his four-tournament stay at home without a win after collapsing to a tie for 49th.
At the Women’s Australian Open, Shin took the lead with a three-round total of 14-under 204 after shooting a 67 on Saturday, while 17-year-old South Korean amateur Hyojin Yang, the overnight leader, shot a 3-over 76 to fall. in the rankings in sixth place and eight shots back.
Shin leads by two shots from Australian Hannah Green, who shot a 68 after a wild round with eight birdies, a bogey and a double bogey.
Defending champion Ashleigh Buhai shot 67 and was 10 under, four shots behind in third.
LPGA Tour regular Minjee Lee shot 69 and was 1 under while her brother, PGA Tour player Min Woo Lee, had a 72 to stay at 3 under.
The tournaments are using alternate tee times – and with level prize money for the second year in a row – at the par-72 Kingston Heath (par 73 for the Women’s Open) and the par-71 Victoria Golf Club.
