A run of five birdies in six holes helped Ryggs Johnston claim a share of the lead heading into the final round of the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, in just his second DP World Tour event.
Related: Lucas Herbert extends lead to enthrall Aussie home crowd
The Qualifying School graduate, who finished tied for 43rd on his debut at the BMW Australian PGA Championship last week, carded a four-under-par 68 at a rain-soaked Kingston Heath to catch Lucas Herbert on 14 under par.
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Home favourite Herbert had cruised into a four-shot halfway lead by following a stunning 63 at Victoria with a 66 over Kingston Heath on Friday, but produced only one birdie in a level-par 72 to leave the door ajar for the chasing pack.
It was American Johnston – named after the Lethal Weapon character made famous by Mel Gibson – who took advantage with four straight birdies from the fourth, a run completed with a stunning approach to the seventh.
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Further gains followed at the ninth and 12th, putting the Montana native on course to claim the outright lead heading into Sunday.
Herbert, who had made a bogey on the fourth, made a six footer on the ninth to briefly get back within one. However, Johnston ran up a double-bogey seven at the 14th after a wayward drive down the right and firing a bunker shot over the back of the green.
Three-time DP World Tour winner Herbert endured a cold putter on the back nine, while Johnston saw a lengthy birdie effort on the last catch the lip as the two were forced to settle for a share of the lead.
Defending champion Joaquin Niemann and last week’s winner Elvis Smylie are tied for third on 12 under alongside another Australian in Jasper Stubbs, China’s Wenyi Ding and Oliver Lindell of Finland.
Australian trio Marc Leishman, Curtis Luck and Harrison Crowe and Lukas Nemecz of Austria are then one shot further back.
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This week’s event incorporates three tournaments – the men’s and women’s Australian Opens and the Australian All Abilities Championship.
Korea’s Simon Seungmin Lee recorded a comprehensive 14-shot win over World Number One Kipp Popert of England and home favourite Wayne Perske, securing the Australian All Abilities Championship title on his G4D Tour debut.
It was also a positive day for Korea in the women’s event, with Jiyai Shin shooting a six under par round of 67 to get to 14 under and lead home favourite Hannah Green by two going into the final round.
Player Quotes
Ryggs Johnston: For a while now I’ve been in pretty high pressure situations trying to get my card through Q School. That final round is one of the most pressured. I mean, it’s a different type of pressure there and I did pretty well.
So I just try to take that with me and use it as something we’ll look back on to kind tell myself that, ‘hey there, a lot of people watching and a lot of pressure, but you can still do this’.
You just kind of get into a groove sometimes. I just kept hitting good tee shots and leaving myself wedges and making some putts. It was nice to get that kind of fast start and then the back nine is a little bit more of a battle, but it’s a lot tougher to battle when you’re sitting over par or something rather than five or six under.
It’s been a long time since I’ve won a golf tournament. I’ll try to use it as much of a learning experience as I can and hopefully it works out my way. But if not, I want to stay in it for all 18 holes and give myself a chance.
(My name is from) a movie character in Lethal Weapon. My dad’s side of the family has a bunch of ‘r’ names, so I think they kind of run out and they were watching it like, hey, that’s a pretty cool name.
Lucas Herbert: A little bit frustrating, but sort of no ground lost really. I’m still in the lead, might just have let a few more people back in the tournament, but still leading, still where I want to be. So yeah, good result from a frustrating day, I guess.
We’ve got 20 hours roughly until we’re going to tee off, so that’ll give me some time to just decompress and yeah, not think too much about today.
It was tricky out there. I did well, obviously could have run up a massive score there on the fourth and only made a bogey and then didn’t make any bogies elsewhere so I didn’t go backwards at least.
It’s been tricky not to walk past the honour board in the clubhouse in there and see the last couple of names that are on that from winning major tournaments here. So that’s probably the other thing about today was maybe it got more frustrating because I really want to win this.
