2013 Golf: Thorbjorn Olesen Makes First Page At Bay Hill

Thorbjorn Olesen matched Tiger Woods’ third round 66 on Saturday, and climbs into contention at The Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill Golf and Resort. The 23 year old European Tour regular, got his total score to -8 under par  for the week, and in a tie for fifth place, three strokes off the pace. He shares fifth place with Gonzalo FDEZ Costano, who played the third round with Tiger, Jimmy Walker, Ken Duke, and second round co-leader, Bill Haas.

Olesen has not had a good time since he came to the US, he was dismissed in the second round at The Match Play Championships at Dove Mountain, and had a T 53 at the WGC-Cadillac two weeks ago at Doral. The youngster from Fureso, Denmark made it to the WGC events based on a pretty good spring on the Sunshine Tour. He is currently 41st in OWGR rankings, and ninth in Race To Dubai points.

Thorbjorn Olesen played almost flawlessly on Saturday, opening his third round with four consecutive birdies, and making the turn at -5 under 31. He had a pretty ho-hum back nine until he bogeyed the 15th hole. That must have woke him up, as he finished with birdies at the par five 16th hole, and again at the very difficult 18th. His four bogeys on the back nine Friday is why he isn’t playing in the final group today.

Olesen turned pro in 2008, and has one victory on the European Tour with it coming at The Sicilian Open in 2012. He had a great spring in Africa, with a T 2 at the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship in January, and a T 3 at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He had a T 22 at the Qatar Masters.

This is another in the long line of good players coming out of the European Tour. It is only a matter of time until his talent will bring him to the US to compete with the talent pool here. He is very young, and seems to be just getting his water wings on the world stage. He may very well become a factor at the Bay Hill on Sunday afternoon when the world will be watching.

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