Australian PGA Championship, Daniel Popovic has 2 point lead for Final Round

Daniel Popovic / pga.au

Young gun Daniel Popovic has a two point lead going into Sunday’s final round of the Australian PGA Championship at the Palmer Coolum Resort golf course. Daniel carded a -3 under par 69,  for tournament total of -13 under par, in calm conditions on Saturday to lead fellow Victorian Anthony Brown by two shots, and is confident he’s got the game to hold off an experienced chasing pack and claim his first Australian PGA Championship.

” I knew that I had it in me and I still know that I have one more good round tomorrow in me. I’ve just got to keep my routine going , what I have been doing has been working this week and tonight is going to be exactly the same and so is tomorrow morning in my warm up. I’ve been in pressure situations before, like say Q-School which is for me almost the most pressure that you have for the year because it determines where and how many tournaments you are going to play. It does surprise me in a way that I did handle it so well today without sort of having my A-game, but I am going to walk away from here thinking this can be done tomorrow and I’m going to give it a fair crack. It’s going to be an incredible ride for the whole family I think, tomorrow for myself, my mum and my dad is going to be huge.”

Daniel said he was excited to playing alongside another Australian legend on Sunday,Peter Senior,after playing with Geoff Ogilvey on moving day.  In the final group will be Anthony Brown who is two shots back at -11 under par and Peter is three shots behind at -10 under par;

“It’s fantastic, I mean Pete Senior is another one with so much experience and watching Geoff the way that he went about things today, I learnt so much again today playing with him. Geoff is such a great guy and I really hope that I get to play with Geoff again but Pete Senior, I have never met him in my life and I am sure that he is about the same sort of bloke as what Geoff is,  I can’t wait.”

Daniel may be excited but Peter Senior has issued a warning to the leader as he chases a fourth  Australian PGA Championship, declaring he’s in better form than when he won last week’s Australian Open.

” Pretty happy with the way things are going, I played a lot better today than I had even last week. I hit a lot better quality shots, driving it really well and I was just hitting it and picking up my tee which is always a great feeling, it sort of sets the holes up a little bit. I hit some better iron shots today that felt better than what I have been doing and made some birdies on some good holes, like 14 and 18 today, those were the real bonus holes. I just haven’t been making birdies on the par-fives, there are 15 par-fives and I think I’m about three under, the longer hitters are sort of knocking them to pieces so the par-fives are really letting me down.”

Australian PGA Championship, Daniel Popovic and China’s Xin Jun Zhang are Tied at the Top

 

 

        

Daniel Popovic / Getty Images                                                                                Xin Jun Zhang

Daniel Popovic and China’s Xin Jun Zhang are tied top of the Australian PGA Championship after the second round at the Palmer Coolum Resort golf  club. Both players are at -10 under par for the tournament, Daniel with a modest -2 under par 70, and Xin Jun fired in another round of -5 under par 67 for his total.

Daniel said he was stoked to be still at t he top of the leaderboard;

“ I am stoked, ”I can’t get the smile off my face since I finished the round. It’s an unbelievable experience. I am lost for words explaining it.”

Zhang used an interpreter to speak about his golf;

“I felt good today, I am getting used to this layout and to the wind. I’ve learned some English, mostly related to golf, like ‘how do you think this breaks’?”

Matthew Griffen and Geoff Ogilvey are tied in third place at -8 under par, just two shots adrift of the leaders. Tied in fifth spot are Brad Kennedy and Mathew Goggin, both at -7 under par for the tournament.

Geoff Ogilvey,  the 2006 US Open winner and 2008 Australian PGA champion, said he thought his experience of being in contention heading into the weekend should put him in a good position to attack.

“It helps. Being on the first tee can be a scary place the first few times you are there on the weekend, there is a no substitute for experience. It’s a nice advantage to have but there are a lot of good golfers in this field playing well and there is still a long way to go.”

Geoff really wants to finish the year inside the top 50 in the World rankings, so he is aiming to win here;

“I don’t know if it has to be first to get into the top 50, but it probably has to be first two or three, I don’t study world rankings that much. But that would be a bonus, winning the tournament would be the best part, but if that was a side bonus that would be good. I feel like I am in a good place. It’s nice I will be in one of the last few groups tomorrow and if I can have a good score, maybe get right up there after tomorrow and give it a crack on Sunday.”