BRILLIANT West Australian golfer Michael Sim had a day to dream about as he took charge of another Nationwide Tour event.
The tour’s leading money-winner hit 15 greens in regulation and holed putts from everywhere as he shot a career-best nine-under 62 third round to claim a three-shot lead in the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville, South Carolina. “The hole looked like a bucket today,” 24-year-old Sim said after reaching a tournament-record 54-hole total of 20-under 195. “It was just one of those days that you get over the putter and feel like I can’t miss.” Sim has been in sensational form in 2009, coming into the event off a final-round 64 to win the Stonebrae Classic in early April and a closing 63 when beaten in a playoff at the Athens Regional Classic. He also has a third placing and tied fourth in his six previous starts on the tour and his $322,267 in season prizemoney is more than $120,000 ahead of his nearest challenger. Sim birdied four of his first five holes yesterday, with only one putt from beyond 2m. After the turn he made a 5m birdie on his 10th hole and followed with a 6m eagle on the next, a 8m putt for birdie and a 5m putt for birdie before rolling in a 8m birdie putt on his closing hole.
“It’s a strange feeling. I didn’t think there was any way I could miss that last putt,” Sim told pgatour.com.