Jordan

Zunic

Zunic, who started the week at 492nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, turned professional in January, and then won the lucrative BMW New Zealand Open in mid-March. A timely T9 at last week’s Australian PGA Championship provided the necessary surge for the berth into the WGC. He’s never competed in a PGA TOUR event. Fellow Aussie Nathan Holman clinched the top spot in the OOM with his title at RACV Royal Pines Resort last week. So, while each was a foregone conclusion, he’s now officially exempt into both the WGC-Cadillac and The Open Championship.

The 24-year-old Aussie turned professional last January and 14 months later finds himself in his first WGC event. He cracked the field this week via the Order of Merit on the PGA TOUR Australasia. Zunic finished second in merit last season, largely due to a victory at the BMW New Zealand Open. The youngster probably doesn’t hold much fantasy value this week as he learns the ropes of handling the pressure of a star-studded event, but he’s one to keep a close eye on in the future.

An extraordinary day at Royal Pines began appropriately enough with a 60-foot birdie conversion from just off the first green and he followed it with gains at 2 and 3. Zunic then had two sets of four straight birdies (6, 7, 8 & 9 and 12, 14, 15 & 16) to go 11-under for his round. Two more would have given him the first official 59 in European Tour history. Instead, he suffered his first bogey of the day at 17 before swallowing a double at 18 to limit his lead to three having started the day three shots off the lead. Adam Bland is in solo third, four back, while Zunic has a seven-stroke gap on Marc Leishman and David Bransdon in tied fourth. So far, the 25-year-old has averaged just 24.7 Putts Per Round and, not surprisingly, ranks first in that category. A prized European Tour card awaits if he can convert his lead tomorrow. “In order for me to grab that I just need to keep doing what I’ve been doing and stay in the present moment,” said Zunic later.

That’s a shot clear of a five-man group featuring Sergio Garcia and Marc Leishman. The Aussie had slipped back to 4-under with bogey at 7 but jumped to T1 by draining his third at the 541-yard par-5 9th. If his name rings a distant bell, that’s because the World No. 636 played in the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship after finishing second on the PGA TOUR Australasia Order of Merit in 2015. Zunic pegged it up in eight events on Europe’s second-tier Challenge Tour in 2017, cashing just four times, and he also shot 78-73 to miss the cut in last week’s Australian Open. However, he was T9 at this event in 2015 and showed his liking again for Royal Pines today. Despite an opening bogey, he surged with a run of four birdies in five holes at 14, 15, 16 and 18 to go out in 33. Zunic splashed further red at 2 and 6 before recovering from his dropped shot at the next with that spectacular finish.

The 25-year-old started his day at the Royal Pines Resort with a bogey at the first but responded well, ticking 3, 4 and 6, however playing partner Smith, who was three adrift overnight, was pouring the birdie putts in and a second Zunic bogey at 10 brought them level. Smith yo-yoed his way to the clubhouse as Zunic carded eight pars. In the play-off Smith twice scrambled for par and Zunic failed to on the second visit to 18. A rare performer on the European Tour this is his second top ten in 11 efforts, bettering his T9 in this tournament in 2015. “I had a good mindset all day,” he said afterwards. “Couple of birdie tries on the back nine ran past the edge. We did everything we could do so that’s all you can ask. Cam was just too good on the back nine.”