Hall dreaming of victory in Beijing
Clubhouse leader Ashley Hall admitted he is now entertaining the prospect of an unlikely Volvo China Open victory after the Australian equalled the course record with a scintillating third-round 65 today.
Hall exploited near-perfect morning conditions at Beijing CBD International GC to fire six birdies and an eagle in his seven-under-par effort, equalling that of New Zealander Mark Brown set barely an hour earlier.
The 25-year-old now sits five under par following rounds of 75 and 71, two strokes behind joint-leaders Richard Finch and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who have both played 13 holes.
“I only wanted to get under par and give myself a chance but I’ve done more than what I wanted to so I’ll reset tonight and now I suppose I can think about winning,” he said.
“I holed a few key putts early, I birdied the first which is almost the hardest hole on the golf course. I rolled in a 15-foot putt on the first and holed another five-foot putt on the second and I just felt comfortable with the putter.
“I don’t know how many putts I had but it wasn’t many but I also hit a lot of wedge shots to within two or three feet. I felt decent on the range this morning so I’m just hoping it continues tomorrow.”
Having reached the turn in 31, Hall picked up another shot at the 13th to move to three-under only to suffer his only setback of the day when he bogeyed the tough par-four 14th.
“Definitely the worst shot of the day, I hit a six-iron way right of the green, definitely the side I didn’t want to miss it on,” he added.
“I played an awesome shot to about five-feet and missed the putt. It could have been better but even if I shot three or four-under at the end of the day, I would’ve been really happy.”
Hall recovered to birdie the 16th before a chip-in for am eagle three on the last completed an excellent day’s work.
“I didn’t miss many shots and the eagle up the last was the icing on the cake, lucky I suppose but I was in position all day and rarely hit a bad shot,” he said.
Brown had earlier set a new mark around the 7,321 par-72 course after recording seven birdies in a bogey-free round that featured a chip-in at the 14th – his second of the week at the same hole – following a wayward tee shot as he bolted up the leaderboard to three under par.
“I was just fortunate to be playing,” he said.
“I thought I’d missed the cut yesterday afternoon. The goal this morning was to get back into the tournament and that was going to take something pretty low and to shoot the course record was a great result and I actually played pretty nicely.
“I think the key round here is to hit as many greens in regulation as possible and today I probably only missed two so in that respect I had lot of birdie opportunities.
“I think everybody when they’ve completed their rounds feel like they’ve left a couple out there so not too much to complain about.”
Finch, meanwhile, bogeyed the sixth to fall back to one-under but embarked on an incredible run of six consecutive birdies that saw the Hull golfer jump into the lead.
He was joined by playing partner Fernandez-Castano after the Spaniard eagled the 13th to go with birdies at the fourth, seventh and 11th after he had bogeyed the second.
Markus Brier is alongside Hall in a tie for third after a bogey at the 12th dropped the Austrian back to five-under having birdied the preceding two holes and seemingly about to mount a charge.
David Dixon moved to within three of the lead after an impressive five-under 67 that featured seven birdies saw the Englishman climb to four-under.
He was in a group of four players that included Simon Dyson – two-under for the day though 14 – and overnight leader Choi ho-sung, the Korean two over on his round after 12.
