Robert Allenby and Brendan Jones tied for 21st at Australian PGA Championship
For Robert Allenby and Brendan Jones, the tournament seems to be just another fling at the season’s end. The pair is tied for the 21st position, not even close to where they had hoped to finish the tournament.
The only saving grace is that the cream of the field does not rise to the top this early in a golf tournament. They still have time.
Brendan Jones’s play is unrecognisable. The Aussie star had been amongst the leaders at the Australian Open a while back, braving strong winds and gusty weather to end the tournament one stroke behind the winner.
Jones ended the first round by carding a 1-over 73. A complete reversal of fortune might have followed.
Had he not bagged seven birdies the next round, dropping just the two bogeys at par 5 hole three and the par 4 hole ten, he would be in deep trouble.
What the runner-up of the Australian Open needs is grit and perhaps a bit of imitation, like Daniel Popovic and his inspiration from Geoff Ogilvy’s play on the field just recently.
Popovic admitted to watching Ogilvy’s play up close and learning from the drive that drove Ogilvy to the top-50.
Popovic’s performance has been superb in this tournament – he stands at the second place, just behind Chinaman Zhang Xin Jun – and his power play sure is going from strength to strength.
Robert Allenby may as well be conjoined to Jones. He capped off the first round tied with Jones and the second round finds him there too, at a 5-under 67.
Allenby began the round rather sloppily, with a bogey on the first hole and parring the second. The two birdies on the third and fourth hole converted to more than just a birdie streak, with an eagle on the following par 5 fifth.
It was that eagle that kept him in the game, absorbing the unwelcome 16th hole bogey.
Allenby and Jones ended the day tied at the 21st slot. Surely, they can do better. With the round three teeing off tomorrow, they will have to. The round three is the maker in a great deal of golf.
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