Curtis Luck overcame a nightmare start to his third round to sit just one shot off the pace heading into the final round of the WA Open.
The Cottesloe GC product had started the day three strokes behind co-leaders Oliver Bekker and Todd Sinnott, but his title hopes looked to have taken a terminal hit as he dropped three strokes in his opening two holes.
He regrouped superbly, though, picking up a shot at Secret Harbour’s par-four 4th before carding three birdies in a row from the 9th to reassert his presence near the top of the leaderboard.
A further birdie at the 13th moved Luck to -9 for the championship and he missed several chances to improve his score further over the closing stretch as he signed off for a two-under-par 70.
Nevertheless, Luck was satisfied with his efforts and now finds himself just a shot adrift of defending champion Bekker and the Victorian duo of Jasper Stubbs and James Marchesani.
“I was headless after two holes,” Luck told GolfWA. “If you’d said to me after a double and a bogey to start my round that I was going to shoot two under, I would have said, yeah, please sign me up!
“But then, with five holes to play, I had heaps of room to make a few more birdies. From 15 through to 18 I felt like the holes were not playing too tough and I made them look kind of hard.
“So, that’s a little disappointing when you feel like there’s shots out there that you left, but two under after that start is pretty good.”
Spectators were out in force all day at Secret Harbour Golf Links
Ten years after his thrilling WA Open victory whilst still an amateur, Luck is relishing being back in contention in his home state open.
“I’ve played this event so many times and it means probably as much to me now as it did when I was 15 playing my first one,” he said.
“It’s a great spot to be in and hopefully I can take advantage of it. I’d love to get another WA Open.”
As the leading WA player in this year’s event, Luck is hoping that strong levels of support will help spur him on as a Sunday shootout beckons.
“Let’s get as many people out here as we can and support WA Open,” he added. “It’s a great event and hopefully it’ll be a good atmosphere out there to play in front of on Sunday.”
Sunday showdown awaits
Alongside Luck in T4th are Victoria’s Todd Sinnott, Jason Hong (NSW) and American Kameron Williams.
However, the stacked leaderboard features nine more players within four strokes of the lead, virtually guaranteeing a thrilling final day.
Of the six WA golfers who made the weekend, only Luck remains a viable title contender. Newly turned pro Jordan Jung is the next best placed at -2 in a share of 30th.
View the full leaderboard here.
Round 4 commences at 7.10am on Saturday morning, with the leaders teeing off at 10.40am. Entry is FREE for spectators. Live coverage of the final round will air on Foxtel and Kayo from 11am-4pm AWST.
The 2026 WA Open takes place at Secret Harbour from October 15-18. Entry is free for spectators all week. Find out full details of the event here.
