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Gates opens up lead - Saturday, 30 January 2010
If American Robert Gates feels under pressure leading into tomorrow’s last round of the Michael Hill New Zealand Open it certainly does not show.After a four-under par 68 in the third round of the $US600,000 tournament at The Hills today, Gates had established a three-shot lead over Queenslander Andrew Dodt with Victorian Michael Curtain five shots from the pace and the rest of the field left in his wake.
Gates, 24, was 16-under after rounds of 65, 67 and 68 and the 72-hole record set by fellow American Alex Prugh last year seems well within his grasp.
Gates is playing his first Nationwide Tour event, but he has the air of a seasoned professional, walking, talking and most importantly playing with a high degree of confidence.
Only 12 players in the history of the Nationwide Tour have won on debut, but Gates was typically relaxed when asked if he was superstitious about the number 13, declaring he wasn’t and he said he would not let the thoughts of a win cloud his mind until the final round was over.
``My goal tomorrow is just to stay in the moment and try not to be outcome focus. That’s part of the game, learning how to handle those emotions and not thinking about outcomes.’’
A south-westerly posed some problems in the third round and Gates said it made the round much more challenging, although there were some favourable pin placements which he used to advantage.
He said he his routine overnight would not change. ``I might sleep a little later, but it’s just golf with a different scenario and different situation. But at the end of the day there’s still 18 holes to play so tomorrow I’ll go out and stay aggressive and try as make as few mistakes as possible.’’
Gates had two birdies on the front nine, but when he bogeyed the 11th both Dodt and Curtain closed to within a shot. It was short-lived, however, as the tall Texas-based Gates reeled off four straight birdies from the 12th, the longest putt being from eight feet.
He dropped a shot at the 18th after pulling his approach into a bunker, but he was not alone for Dodt and Curtain also bogeyed a hole which rates amongst the toughest on the Nationwide Tour.
The bogey at 18 was Dodt’s only dropped shot after he had birdied the second, 13th and 16th holes.
``It was pretty solid. It was disappointing to bogey the last hole but I had a lot of good stuff going on and hopefully tomorrow I few more putts can go my way,’’ Dodt said.
`Bobby (Gates) is a great guy. We talked the whole way round so it’s good we both played well and enjoyed ourselves at the same time. I feel I’m in with a chance. I’ve stuck to the game plan for three rounds so I’ll be doing the same tomorrow – holing more putts is the key.’’
Curtain had a blistering start with birdies at four of his first five holes, but he mixed three bogeys with two birdies on the homeward half, dropping shots at 16 and 18.
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