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| November 18, 2001 | Sunday | Ramazan 2, 1422 |
New Zealanders enjoy three-stroke advantage
GOTEMBA (Japan), Nov 17: New Zealanders Michael Campbell and David Smail insist the three-stroke lead they will take into Sunday’s final round of the World Cup is a huge advantage — even with Tiger Woods and David Duval breathing down their necks.
Campbell and Smail maintained their overnight lead after combining for a seven-under-par 65 in Saturday’s fourballs to reach the clubhouse on a 22-under-par total of 194 after three rounds at the Taiheiyo Club in Shizuoka.
Smail, who plays on the Japanese tour, admitted he might feel a bit nervous in Sunday’s head-to-head foursomes against the Americans.
But Campbell dismissed suggestions that the New Zealanders would suffer a final-day collapse in their pursuit of a first World Cup title.
“We should be proud of what we have done after three rounds. The bottom line is everybody expects the U.S. team to win,” he said. “No question, we are the underdogs but we have got a mission to turn things around.”
Woods and Duval, who are chasing back-to-back titles after winning the tournament in Argentina last year, moved into second place after a nine-under-par 63.
Woods carried the U.S. team with six birdies, four coming on the back nine, as the world number one peppered the greens with some wonderful approach shots to the appreciation of a huge gallery of just under 14,000.
“I’ve played with Tiger and David (Duval) a few times and I know it’s going to be a bit of a circus. We have to play our game and forget about what Tiger and David are doing,” said Campbell.
Smail, who has never played against the American duo, said he hoped the butterflies would settle quickly in Sunday’s foursomes.
“It will be a new experience and a huge pressure situation for me. Hopefully I will be able to put it to one side and go forward with the job,” said Smail.
Woods, however, was clearly relishing the chance of playing in the final group with the New Zealand pair.
“We are in the final group. At least we can play with them and hopefully play well enough to give ourselves a chance,” he said.
Campbell agreed that the result could come down to the 18th hole on Sunday.
“That’s the hole that could make a huge difference because it’s a reachable par five, an eagle-able hole but you can also dump it in the water,” he said.
Smail, who sank a number of long putts on the undulating greens on Saturday, had his own theory about the key to Sunday’s round.
“Hope to hit the ball better and Cambo might want to sink a few putts,” he joked.
Third round scores:
194 New Zealand (Michael Campbell/David Smail) 63 66 65
197 United States (Tiger Woods/David Duval) 66 68 63
198 France (Thomas Levet/Raphael Jacquelin) 67 68 63; South Africa (Ernie Els/Retief Goosen) 64 71 63; Japan (Toshimitsu Izawa/Shigeki) 64 69 65; Argentina (Angel Cabrera/Eduardo Romero) 67 68 63
199 Spain (Sergio Garcia/Miguel Angel Jimenez) 63 71 65; Denmark (Thomas Bjorn/Soren Hansen) 65 69 65; Scotland (Andrew Coltart/Dean Robertson) 62 71 66; Wales (Phillip Price/Mark Mouland) 66 71 62
200 England (Ian Poulter/Paul Casey) 65 72 63; Australia (Adam Scott/Aaron Baddeley) 66 70 64; Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley) 64 72 64; Norway (Per Haugsrud/Henrik Bjornstad) 67 72 61
201 Sweden (Niclas Fasth/Robert Karlsson) 62 73 66; Fiji (Vijay Singh/Dinesh Chand) 66 69 66; Canada (Mike Weir/Ian Leggatt) 62 73 66
204 Mexico (Octavio Gonzalez/Alejandro Quiroz) 66 71 67; China (Zhang Lian-Wei/Liang Wen-Chong) 67 69 68 206 Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Angel Franco) 68 72 66; Netherlands (Maarten Lafeber/Robert Jan Derksen) 70 72 64; Zimbabwe (Mark McNulty/Tony Johnstone)) 66 74 66
214 Malaysia (Danny Chia/Periasamy Gunasegaran) 66 80 68
215 Philippines (Rodrigo Cuello/Danny Zarate) 67 75 73—Reuters
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