A Review of Round 3 at The Open by REDi Sport
Louis Oosthuizen retains his lead again following Round 3, although it has been cut to one shot. He will be pleased to head into the final day with a slender advantage though after it was briefly a three-way tie at the top on 11 under par with only a handful of holes to play.
Oosthuizen, 2010 Open Champion, then hit a beautiful iron shot into the par 3 16th hole, which resulted in a birdie to get to 12 under par. On back-nine where his approach play was not at its usual exceptional standard, Oosthuizen will be pleased to shoot 69 on a challenging day.
Despite also shooting 69, Jordan Spieth, will have been left frustrated. He blundered his final two holes with back-to-back bogeys, which dropped him back down to nine under par. He is still right in contention going into Sunday, but he will know that it could have been better.
Collin Morikawa got off to a shaky start with two bogeys in his first five holes. A birdie on the seventh turned the round and from then on he looked incredibly solid. He threatened to tie the lead on the final hole after he hit a superb approach shot, but his birdie putt just rolled by. Morikawa, 2020 USPGA Champion, will join Oosthuizen in the final group tomorrow one shot behind.
Tough pin positions limit low scoring
Following plenty of low scoring over the first two days, Royal St. George’s and the R&A looked as though they decided to fight back in the third round. It was another beautiful sunny day on the Kent links with only a gentle breeze, but the pin positions were far more challenging.
John Rahm described them after his round as some of the hardest he’s ever seen. Despite that Rahm shot a good score of 68 to finish on seven under total. He will be hoping for some early birdies to throw his hat in the mix on the final day.
Robert MacIntrye shot the round of the day with a stunning 65. He will start the final day on four under par total. The only Scottish golfer in the field, MacIntyre will be hoping for a good final round to help his chances in qualifying for the upcoming Ryder Cup.
American Scottie Scheffler, making his debut in The Open, and Canadian Corey Conners, who missed the cut on his only other appearance at The Open in 2019, are the next closest challenges to the top three. Both are tied fourth on eight under par.
Mixed fortunes for the three Sheffield golfers on Saturday
If you have been following our blogs on The Open you will know that we at REDi Sport are closely following the story of all our local Sheffield golfers at Royal St. George’s.
Three successfully qualified for the weekend, but all had mixed fortunes in Round 3.
Matt Fitzpatrick fared the best with an impressive round of 67, also moving him to three under par for the tournament. That shot him up the leaderboard into a tie for 25th and he will now be targeting a good final day and a top 10 finish.
Level par 70 for Danny Willett, in a round which promised more after he holed out for eagle from 10th fairway. Sadly, back-to-back bogeys on 14 and 15 halted any momentum and he remained four under par for the tournament. Still in the top 20 at the moment, he, like Fitzpatrick, will be hoping for a good final day to move up the leaderboard.
It was not a great day on the links for Lee Westwood. A round of two over par 72, leaves him on level par for the tournament and a long way off the pace. A birdie on the final hole may have lifted his spirits a little bit for the final round, but he will need to shoot a low score to try to move towards the top 20 or higher.
Schmid increases his lead for the Silver Medal
A one over par round of 71 for Matthias Schmid was enough to increase his lead in the race for the Silver Medal. A bogey on the final hole will have disappointed Schmid, but it was another decent round from the German amateur given the tough conditions.
Yuxin Lin, the only other amateur to make the weekend, struggled a little bit more with a four over par 74. Sitting on five over par total, he is now five shots behind Matthias Schmid. It is certainly not an unassailable gap and Lin will be hoping to finish strong on Sunday.