Hale Irwin surges forward to share lead with Fardon
Hale Irwin surges forward to share lead with Fardon
JAKARTA (JP): Hale Irwin of the United States justified his world rated billing with a four-under par 68 for a 138 to surge ahead of the field. He shared the lead with Australian Don Fardon at the halfway stage of the Sampoerna Indonesia Open at the Pantai Indah Kapuk yesterday.
The 49-year-old Irwin, three-time winner of the U.S. Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990, who had carded no less than 20 PGA champion in his 27 years of professional career, was two strokes ahead of fellow countrymen Danny Ellis and Craig McClellan, who tied for second place with six players.
Irwin, who hit a 2-under 70 on the opening day on Wednesday, opened the round with a 34 and returned to the club with an identical 34.
Going into today's third round, the field of 156 golfers was reduced to 72 pros who are eligible to vie for the US$250.000 cash prizes.
The day's best scorer was Wang Ter-Chiang of Chinese Taipei who fired a brilliant five-under par 67 for a two-day total of 144. In the opening round however, he carded a poor five-over par-77.
Wang shot three birdies in the front nine and birdieing two in the back nine for a marvelous 67.
The other player placed second were Singapore's rising star Mardan Mamat, who when still playing as amateur helped his country in winning the Putra Cup men's team in Hong Kong in 1993.
Jose Contero of Argentina, Gary Simpson of Australia, veteran Chinese Taipei Lu Chin Soon and Roger Wessels of South Africa were other four players bunched in second place, each with 140.
Frank Nobilo, winner of last year's event, fulfilled his promise to play better than his opening day, as he managed to overcome the heat and humidity and fired magnificent four-under par 68 and was joined in the 17th placed with four golfers. He tumbled to a 74 on Tuesday (rsl).
Selected results 138 - Hale Irwin (USA) 70 68
Don Fardon (Aus) 68 70 140 - Roger Wissel (RSA) 68 72
Jose Cantero (Arg) 69 71
Mardan Mamat (Sin) 71 69
Danny Ellis (USA) 70 70
Craig McClellan (USA) 70 70
Gary Simpson (Aus) 69 71
Lu Chen Soon (Tpe) 68 72 141 - Robert Farley (Aus) 68 73
Kevin Wentworth (USA) 72 69
Eric Meeks (USA) 72 69
Todd Hamilton (USA) 70 71
Dustin Phillips (USA) 70 71
Gustav Rojas (Arg) 69 72
Glen Joiner (Aus) 68 73 142 - Frank Nobilo (Nzl) 74 68
David Podlich (Aus) 69 73
Andrew Bonhomme (Aus) 73 69
Greg Lesher (USA) 72 70
Nico van Rensburg (RSA) 70 72
Stephen Leaney (Aus) 69 73