Ormsby hunting first European Tour win in Fiji

South Australian Wade Ormsby worked his way to the top of the Fiji International leaderboard on a day made for scoring.

The usual winds that hammer the Coral Coast were absent for round three allowing players to take advantage of the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course layout.

European Tour regular, Ormsby got off to a slow start and was 1-over after seven holes. However with the calming reassurance of his caddy the 37-year-old got onto a hot streak.

Ormsby birdied his next four holes in a row, before adding a further three to his card to fire the round of the day; 6-under 66 seeing him one clear on top of the leaderboard at 10-under the card.

“It was a bit of a surprise coming up the last, I hadn’t seen too many leaderboards for the day but obviously very happy with it,” said Ormsby.

“I didn’t think I would be in that position after seven holes, I was getting a bit frustrated, but then the putter started to get a bit hot so I started to move in the right direction.

“I had Richard on my bag and he was just saying to try and stay cool, so that happened and I made a tonne of birdies.”

Having made just three bogeys in three days, Ormsby is confident heading into the final round as he chases his first European Tour win.

“I feel like I am playing quite solid, I haven’t made many bogeys for the week and once I got my putter going I really started moving forward,” added Ormsby.

“I feel like I can keep doing what I am doing, it will just be if other guys get going as well and chase me.

“There are a few tricky holes out there; I think 16 is one that has been spoken about a lot. It has a raised green and tricky tee shot. The rest there is enough room to play your normal game so we will see what tomorrow brings.”

 
However a fellow South Australian, Jason Norris is hoping to stand in his way as he heads into the final round just one shot behind Ormsby.

Norris fired 2-under 70 in the third round, his near perfect day coming de-railed at the par-4 16th.

“It’s a tough tee shot and I hit a poor drive. I don’t mind that hole I drive there all the time, and in the hazard you should still make five but a couple more poor shots as well and it adds up to a seven,” said Norris, who bounced back from his triple bogey with a birdie on 17.

“It’s always good to play an easier hole after a bad hole and hopefully make a good birdie coming back.

“I was actually thinking when I hit that shot in it was going to be an eagle. I saw it bounce but didn’t see it roll in, you can’t see it from back there and I thought it was going to be pretty close.”

Victorian young gun James Marchesani made his presence known at the Fiji International firing 5-under 67 to be outright third on 8-under the card.

Marchesani is headed to European Tour Qualifying School at the end of the year; however a win this week would bypass that hurdle.

“I think it’s nice now that we have a few events in Australia tied with Europe so that if you do play well or even go on to win it opens doors on other tours,” said Marchesani.

“A good week here and you never really know where you’ll be the week after.”

Zimbabwean Scott Vincent, and Australians Scott Hend and Peter Wilson are tied fourth on 7-under the card.

At 6-under the card after three rounds are; Stephen Leaney (Aus), Daniel Pearce (NZL) and Gavin Green (MAS).

A group of six players are tied 10th on 5-under the card heading into the final round of the Fiji International.

The fourth round will tee off at 8.40am off two tees and played in three balls. The final group of James Marchesani, Jason Norris and Wade Ormsby tee off at 10.35am.