Leaders of golf tournaments after 54 holes always promise in the post third-round interview that they will ‘go out and have fun tomorrow'.

Having fun when you have any lead in a big event is no fun until you have successfully wrapped up the title on Sunday. Until then, it is a hard grind where you must face the fear, the possibility of losing and looking like someone who couldn't manage to hold it all together when it really mattered.

Adam Bland, a powerful left-hander from Adelaide, took the lead to the 55th tee of the Australian Masters and none of the players the experts had predicted might win the championship were in particularly threatening positions. Tiger Woods had missed putts from all over and sat at one under par and tied with Robert Allenby. Geoff Ogilvy was one better than Woods and Stuart Appleby was one better than Ogilvy but still a distant eight shots behind the leader.

Woods began horribly at the shortest par four in championship golf by driving into a bad place in the left bunker and missing a short putt for his four. He holed out of the bunker at the next but it was not until he was completely without hope that he began one of the most impressive rushes of golf ever seen in Melbourne. He tapped in from a few feet at the 13th for a birdie, holed from thirty feet for an eagle at the short par four, 15th, made a neat up and down for a birdie at the penultimate hole and he then finished with a fifteen footer for an eagle three at the par-five finisher.

That was 65 and a seven-under total of 277 but it always looked to be at least a couple of shots too many. Tiger missed a lot of putts during the week but the finish will leave him with some hope that better days are ahead.

Bland made a birdie at the opener but he gave that back at the third and he fumbled his way through most of the rest of the round. Partner Daniel Gaunt birdied the 13th down the hill to take the lead and he may have been able to really wrap it up by holing from eight feet for a birdie at the 15th. Instead he missed just as Appleby was making a long putt for a par after finding sand at the par-three 16th.

Gaunt came next to the difficult uphill par three and in stark contrast to Appleby he hit a brilliant shot straight at the flag. He could have reasonably expected a short putt for a two but instead his ball fell just off the back of the green and down the steep bank toward the next tee. Running the ball back up the bank is the only option but one either hits the chip too hard or not hard enough. Gaunt did both, his first chip coming back almost to his feet and the second effort running predictably miles past and the five finished off his chance. It was a cruel piece of luck and he will have no fun watching the tape of Appleby playing ahead holing from twenty-five feet for a birdie at the 17th hole.

The last hole is really a par four at this level and Appleby played it flawlessly and signed for a 65 and a 10-under 274.

Only Bland had a chance playing the last hole and he played a fine long second to about twenty feet but the tying putt was weak and pushed to the left.

For Appleby this has been a year of resurrection. His game staggered in 2009 after he changed clubs and ball and whilst all the new equipment might seem fine in a testing centre in the off-season, it seemed from the outside that he took ages to get used to it in competition.

The Victorian played a couple of brilliant rounds at the beginning of the Australian Open at New South Wales but it was not until he won in the middle of this year that he could rest a little easier knowing his short-term employment was assured.

Two difficult days at Victoria GC - a hot and windy Friday then a cold and rainy Saturday - kept the scores high but the course and the greens were organized to ensure there would be no repeat of the lost opening day at the 2002 Open.

Woods expressed surprise that the greens were so slow and soft and it's true they were pretty docile. Which is a shame. Tournament officials must strive to produce conditions somewhat reminiscent of those we played in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

The greens don't need to be as severe as they were in 2002 and it was perfectly understandable that caution was the way of the week but those responsible for the set-up of the tournament courses need to ensure we don't lose the firm and fast traditions that made Melbourne golf so unique.