Golf: Green in contention

Left-hander Richard Green of Victoria chipped himself into contention with two chip-ins in the centenary Australian Open golf championship today.

Coming off a tremendous year in Europe, Green put himself in position to win the tournament with a fine four-under par 67 in testing conditions at The Australian GC in Sydney. It propelled him to four under par for the tournament and into a three-way tussle with Rod Pampling and 23-year-old Kurt Barnes, the rookie who stays like a Melbourne Cup contender.

"Another day like today should do the job," said Green, who finished 17th on the European Order of Merit and narrowly missed gaining automatic entry to the US Open.

Before the tournament Robert Allenby thought 20 under par might win the if conditions stayed calm. They didn't and a stiff north-easterly over the past two days ensured the old course kept its reputation as one of the toughest in the country. Only six players were under par going into tomorrow's final round.

The New Zealand pair of Mahal Pearce and Michael Cambell were well off the pace with Pearce in 44th position at eight over after shooting 75 today, while Campbell was 60th and last at 14 over with a third round 78.

Green had an extraordinary day. He opened with a birdie at the monster par-four first, chipping in after missing the green to the right. On the front nine he made seven threes, a four and a seven, courtesy of a double-bogey on the long fifth, where his approach was buried in a greenside bunker.

He didn't make a birdie on the back nine, but managed another chip-in from 10 metres for an eagle at the 510m 14th.

The chip-ins made all the difference. He hit only seven of 14 fairways, nine greens, but used his putter just 22 times. He also got up and down five times from the sand.

Despite his over-the-top prediction, Allenby put himself in with a chance by shooting a two-under-par 69 today to get to two under going into the final round. And fellow Victorian Stuart Appleby joined him late in the day when he birdied the last hole for a 72.

Leading scores after the third round at the par-71 Australian Golf Club yesterday (Australian unless stated):

208: Rod Pampling 67 67 74

209: Richard Green 67 75 67

210: Kurt Barnes 65 73 72

211: Stuart Appleby 69 70 72, Paul Gow 71 69 71

212: Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 69 74 69

213: Bob Estes (US) 73 70 70, Peter Lonard 71 71 71, Robert Allenby 74 70 69, Martin Doyle 70 73 70, Stephen Leaney 70 71 72

214: Steven Bowditch 73 70 71, Paul Sheehan 70 77 67, Steven Conrad 73 72 69, David McKenzie 73 70 71, Nathan Green 72 70 72,

Brett Rumford 69 70 75

Also:

221: MAHAL PEARCE (NZ) 73 73 75

227: MICHAEL CAMPBELL (NZ) 73 76 78

-AAP