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Miguel the Angel – Jiminez comes straight back from the disaster on 15 to birdie 16
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That three-stroke lead was maintained until the par-3 thirteenth, and then the sparks began to fly. Green missed the green (it's no good – there's no other way to say it), while Jones found good position for a possible birdie. The Spaniards parred, while Green bogeyed, and Jones missed his birdie putt by a foot and a half. The spectators, and indeed the Spanish duo, had moved on towards the next tee, when Jones agonizingly missed his tiddler for par to drop a stroke. Spain four ahead.
On 14, both Australians were on in regulation, while the Spaniards found sand to the right of the green. Larrazabal produced a save, but Green holed a longish putt for birdie to put right his partner's blunder on 13. Now on the official's clock, neither Jiminez nor Jones took time to attempt their putts. Australia back to three-behind.
The par-5 fifteenth is one of the spectators' favourites. It is a long hole, at 580 yards, but such a severe dogleg around the lake that it almost winds back on itself. Players will arrive on the tee thinking 'birdie' but disaster can strike – the Spaniards made their only bogey in Round Two's foursomes here.
The Australians both hit the fairway, but the Spaniards found rough to the right – the long side to the flag. The Jiminez ball was so badly buried that his spotter almost stepped on it, and he could only hack out and lay up.
Green came up short with his iron, and rolled back down the slope to the front. Larrazabal got a flyer from his lie, and ended up bunkered behind the green. Then Jones stepped up and hit a beauty, no more than six feet from the pin. Under pressure and trying to make good his error, Jiminez misjudged his wedge. It hit the rocks in front of the green, and bounced back into the lake. Another wedge – now his fifth shot – pulled up on the fringe to the front of the green, leaving him looking at a double-bogey.
The attention shifted to Larrazabal. Left with a horrible shot across yards of sand onto a downhill green, he misjudged by inches and failed to escape the bunker. A second bunker shot left him a long uphill putt, and he missed that too. Bogey.
After his miss on 13, Jones was in no hurry to take his eagle putt, but he made it count. An extraordinary three-shot swing on a single hole, and all of a sudden it was all-square.
" I had about 174 yards to the front, about 181 yards to the pin," said Jones later. "Richard hit a great tee-shot and let me be a bit more aggressive with the line I took. The wind was helping a little, and it was perfect 9-iron length for me. That shot, I actually got chills up the back of my spine when the crowd all cheered. It was a pretty good feeling. I guess the putt would have been about six feet – about five feet longer than I would have liked – but I would have been very, very disappointed to miss that one."
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Jones shows his delight at the birdie on the last that tied things up going into the final day.
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Jiminez was obviously furious with himself. He battered his drive on 16 almost thirty yards further than the long-hitting Aussies and his playing partner Larrazabal – a decisive advantage for his second. All four players had birdie putts, but Jiminez was closest, and only he made his. Spain one-up.
On 17, again all four players had birdie putts, but this time nobody could convert. So it was on to the last, with Spain still holding that slender one-stroke lead.
Jiminez hit left, and escaped the lake by the skin of his teeth to finish in the fringe rough, but the angle once again gained him precious yards. Larrazabal went right and into the front of a steep fairway bunker. Both Australians found the center of the fairway.
From the bunker, when it seemed certain he would have to chip out, Larrazabal produced a stupendous iron that found the green but a long way back. Green and Jones both hit close. Jiminez, playing across the lake all the way to the pin and with no margin for error, produced a close one too.
Larrazabal missed his putt, but knocked it dead and holed out for par. Green missed his putt. Jiminez missed his. With the last shot of Round Three, Green knocked in his birdie, to tie the tournament lead at 22-under, and line up a fantastic final day.
