Wade

Ormsby

The 40-year-old has made a decent fist of his second spell on the European Tour. He played a full schedule for four years from 2004, but only twice retained his card. A fallow period followed until 2014, during which he mostly remained at home or in Asia. He improved in that period, came back stronger and has ended the year in the top 100 of the Race to Dubai in five of six years, with a best of 48th in 2018 when he was a winner of the Hong Kong Open. This year he has actually won that tournament again, but it was delayed following social and political unrest and, when replayed, it was not ET co-sanctioned. He was, however, T3 in the Australian PGA Championship, but failed to make the top 50 in his other four ET starts (and missed three cuts). Before shutdown he landed two Asian Tour top tens.

The Aussie journeyman started the day as the most likely in the field to test the favorite Adam Scott, but in reality it was the unheralded Kiwi Michael Hendry, who grabbed solo second. Ormsby was a little too becalmed maybe. He made eight pars and a birdie at No. 8 heading out, then livened up a little, ticking the tenth and 12th but tossing a shot away in-between at the 11th. A third birdie of the week at the 15th gave him an outside look at the win, but bogeys at the last two holes blew his chances. The consolation is a third top ten at the course and a ninth on the European Tour, but sixth in the last three calendar years, reiterating that the 39-year-old has found his feet if not yet a killer instinct.

Ormsby’s gutsy round which took him into solo second featured 16 pars, including a full set on the back nine. On the front he birdied the par-3 5th hole for the first time this week after a superb tee shot and also ticked the par-5 9th for the third day running. “I put myself in a perfect position going into Sunday, I guess,” said Ormsby, who will be chasing a second European Tour win tomorrow. “It’s tricky out there with the wind and some of the pin positions. Everything’s getting firmer. I’m not sure how those boys shot their scores this morning, but you just have to hang in there.” That was a reference to the 63 shot by Nick Flanagan, who will play in the final three-ball tomorrow alongside Ormsby and Scott at 11:20 local time.

The Aussie’s curious record at the RACV Royal Pines Resort in Queensland continues apace: he arrived here having missed three cuts in his previous five starts, but made the top ten on the other two occasions and lost a play-off in 2014. The 39-year-old will be happy with his current position, but also aware that it could have been better after he started his second round on the back nine and thrashed birdies at the 11th, 12th, 15th and 18th to lead the field on the live leaderboard. But his progress slowed on the back nine and he even started to go backward following bogeys at the third and sixth. However, a second birdie-4 of the week at the ninth drew him back into the top five.

The World No. 263 has feast or famine form at the par 72, posting 2-MC-MC-9-MC since 2014. But he really had his irons dialled in today and this matches the 68 he started with five years ago when finishing runner-up. Tied 27th at the Australian Open two weeks ago, Ormsby made his first gain today on the par-5 3rd hole and picked up further shots at 7 and 9 to turn 3 under the card. He had to stay patient coming home, settling for just one more red number amongst the string of pars, that gain coming at the par-5 15th. The 39-year-old has just one previous European Tour win but this puts him in a good spot to chase another.

The Aussie played there twice in the last decade and thrived, finishing T6 in 2004 and T12 in 2005. That’s a long time ago but he’s also got some impressive more recent form on Spanish soil with T9 in the 2015 Open de Espana at El Prat and T5 in the 2017 Andalucia Masters at Valderrama. As for current form, he’s missed his last two cuts but prior to that recorded back-to-back top tens at the Scandinavian Invitation (T5) and European Masters (T8). He could be an interesting sleeper pick this week.

It was a peculiar day for the Aussie, who opened and closed his card with bogey-5s (at the first and 18th), but in-between he was strong even when he struggled tee to green. Indeed, at one stage he had needed just 14 swings of the putter through 12 holes. In that time he had ticked the sixth and 12th, plus made an eagle-3 at the seventh. He would add another birdie at the 14th before that late slip cost him a share of the lead. Prior to this year his record at Crans was far from impressive (nine starts with a best of T24 on debut in 2004), but he looks set to improve on that and possibly in the finest style imaginable.

That’s a move up the leaderboard of ten spots to tied second and places the Aussie just a single shot back from Gavin Green with the morning session coming to a close. Ormsby had seven birdies and a bogey today although failed to tick two of the par 5s. He roared out of the gates with birdies at 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 but then had a small stutter by playing his next six holes in +1 after dropping a shot at 12 and missing out on the par 5s at 9 and 14. Ormsby got going again with a circle on the 15th and one more birdie at the last, his 14th so far this week, took him to double digits under par. The World No. 264 arrived at Crans in hot form after a top five at last week’s Scandinavian Invitation where he opened with 62. This short course would seem a good one for him but his record is dreadful with five missed cuts in his last six visits. Today’s 64 is his lowest 18 in ten appearances.

The Australian sits alongside Matt Fitzpatrick and Ashun Wu, one swing back of leader Erik Van Rooyen, eyeing a second European Tour title nearly two years after he broke his duck at the Hong Kong Open. That win, and his Asian Tour victory at Delhi GC in 2013, are good hints for this week since both demand tidy driving, accuracy more important than length, just as this layout. On Saturday he succeeded thanks to a smart putter, needing just 25 putts and hitting 12 of 18 greens in regulation. The 39-year-old had started his third lap with consecutive bogeys at the first and second, but thereafter he was on fire. He ticked the third and fifth on the front nine, then the tenth, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th on the way home. “Tried to make a meal of the last,” he said of the 18th. “So a huge par save and I’m pretty stoked.” He’s been second at this stage of an event four times. The first three he shot 74-72-75 and finished outside the top five; the latest he won.