Robert-Jan Derksen, leading by two shots after the third round of the Ballantine’s Championship, criticized the organizers yesterday for allowing play to continue in “unfair” conditions.
In biting winds battering the mountainside course, Derksen’s three-over 75 took him to six-under for the tournament, two strokes clear of Spain’s Pablo Martin (74), who is chasing his first professional win.
The 35-year-old Dutchman, who led by two shots overnight, eagled the 10th and threatened to open up a potentially decisive lead, but he was left to rue five bogeys on the back nine on South Korea’s Jeju island.
PHOTO: AFP
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee, an 11-time winner on the Asian Tour, is on two-under for the tournament after a 77, alongside the South Korean pair of Kang Wook-soon (77) and Kang Kyung-nam (75).
LATE START
Following heavy rain and strong winds on Friday, play eventually got underway three hours late yesterday on the par-72 course at the Pinx Golf Club after a delay for fog.
But Derksen, a two-time winner on the European Tour, said the course was “unfair and unplayable” and play should have been suspended because the winds were wreaking havoc.
“The ball moved on the greens. It rolled away a few times and I think what the tournament director normally does if that happens is they call it off,” Derksen said. “It has to happen a few times before it actually will be called off and today I think it happened a lot of times ... at least five, six times.”
He said there was “a lot of luck involved today” and that he was unsure whether the best player would now win in light of the decision to keep playing.
BEST ROUND
The only player to shoot a sub-par round was France’s Francois Delamontagne, who is one-under for the championship after a 71.
But world No. 9 Henrik Stenson endured a horror round, hitting a nine-over 81, including triple-bogey, double-bogey and bogey on consecutive holes. Former Masters champion Fred Couples also struck 81.
Three-time major winner Ernie Els hit 73 and is one-under.
The high scoring was in sharp contrast to the first round, when Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain and Mark Brown of New Zealand both struck seven-under 65s in placid conditions.
The weather is set to continue to be a major factor, with strong winds forecast for today.
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