SCOT AND ENGLISHMAN SHARE THIRD-ROUND LEAD AT BALGOWNIE
IT LOOKS LIKE MARC WARREN v
JUSTIN ROSE FOR TITLE
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Home favourite Marc Warren, 33, from Glasgow will go head to head with 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose in a mouth-watering final round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on Sunday.
Warren signed for a third-round, four-under-par 67 to reach ten under 203 for the tournament at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, the same mark as Johannesburg-born Englishman Rose, who described his 66 as one of his best rounds of the year.
Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg is another shot back following a 68, while Argentinian Ricardo Gonzalez and Stirling’s Craig Lee are tied for fifth place on six under par 207
Rory McIlroy, who led after a first round 64 only to labour to a 78 on day two, steadied proceedings with a 68 to lie seven shots back in a share of 13th place.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson has yet to play the closign holes well. He is eight off the pace after a 70 for 211 after a day of generally low scoring.
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Rose felt he had lost his game somewhere over the Atlantic when he arrived in Scotland on Wednesday.
Four days later the former US Open champion will take a share of the lead with Warren into the final round after a superb third round of 66.
Rose, who won the Quicken Loans National a fortnight ago on the US PGA Tour, said: "I came here on Wednesday and felt absolutely horrendous but the last couple of days I have been finding my feet again and that's part of the reason for playing here.
"Today and my second round at Congressional are two of the best rounds I have played all year. I'm really happy with the way the game has progressed throughout the week.
"It would be great to win tomorrow. I'm on a nice run at the moment and to keep it going would be fantastic. I'm still really enjoying the links golf and I think that's what I came here to do, just keep playing the game and keep trying to work out the shots.
"But obviously there will come a point tomorrow where you have to win a golf tournament. I'm looking forward to it.
" I said at the beginning of the week, just to be in contention this week and sharpening your skills under pressure will be a fantastic opportunity going into the Open next week."
Rose was in danger of falling off the pace when he managed just one birdie on the front nine, which was again playing the easier part of the course due to the direction of the wind.
But the 33 year old then carded a hat-trick of birdies from the tenth and recovered from his only bogey of the day on the 14th with two more on the 15th and 16th for a back nine of 31, the lowest of the day.
"I fell asleep on my second shot to 14 after a perfect drive and made bogey there but gave myself a good talking to on the 15th," added Rose, who admitted a victory at Royal Aberdeen would continue his habit of winning on tough courses.
"It would definitely hold its own amongst the courses I have won on. That's definitely been my M.O. recently; of the tournaments I've managed to win they have all been on pretty stout tests. I'd take pride in winning on a links course for sure."
Warren has won twice on The European Tour, but the most recent of those was back in 2007, although the 33 year old from Glasgow has had several near-misses since.
He narrowly missed out on the Open de España title in 2013 and a month later lost a play-off for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, but most famously saw a three-shot lead with four holes to play evaporate in this event at Castle Stuart in 2012.
"On the front nine I played really well, really in control of what I was doing," Warren said after a round of 67 saw him pick up six shots in his first 13 holes before two late bogeys.
"It was a little bit scrappy towards the end there but I'm tied going into tomorrow and playing with a Major Champion. I'm in a great position, a very exciting position as well.
"For us Scottish guys it doesn't get much better than this. It's our fifth Major. I've been in this situation before, so once the gun goes I'll be ready to do my job.
"Winning's never easy. It always seems to be the most difficult thing but if you're going to go through a couple of tough holes, it's great to have the home fans behind you, giving you the encouragement you need to go over the finishing line."
At ten under par, Rose and Warren hold a one shot lead over Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg, with England's Tyrrell Hatton two shots further back after matching Rose's 66.
Stirling's Craig Lee also returned a 66 to lie six under 207 alongside overnight joint leader Ricardo Gonzalez, who bogeyed three of his last seven holes in a 71.
Four days later the former US Open champion will take a share of the lead with Warren into the final round after a superb third round of 66.
Rose, who won the Quicken Loans National a fortnight ago on the US PGA Tour, said: "I came here on Wednesday and felt absolutely horrendous but the last couple of days I have been finding my feet again and that's part of the reason for playing here.
"Today and my second round at Congressional are two of the best rounds I have played all year. I'm really happy with the way the game has progressed throughout the week.
"It would be great to win tomorrow. I'm on a nice run at the moment and to keep it going would be fantastic. I'm still really enjoying the links golf and I think that's what I came here to do, just keep playing the game and keep trying to work out the shots.
"But obviously there will come a point tomorrow where you have to win a golf tournament. I'm looking forward to it.
" I said at the beginning of the week, just to be in contention this week and sharpening your skills under pressure will be a fantastic opportunity going into the Open next week."
Rose was in danger of falling off the pace when he managed just one birdie on the front nine, which was again playing the easier part of the course due to the direction of the wind.
But the 33 year old then carded a hat-trick of birdies from the tenth and recovered from his only bogey of the day on the 14th with two more on the 15th and 16th for a back nine of 31, the lowest of the day.
"I fell asleep on my second shot to 14 after a perfect drive and made bogey there but gave myself a good talking to on the 15th," added Rose, who admitted a victory at Royal Aberdeen would continue his habit of winning on tough courses.
"It would definitely hold its own amongst the courses I have won on. That's definitely been my M.O. recently; of the tournaments I've managed to win they have all been on pretty stout tests. I'd take pride in winning on a links course for sure."
Warren has won twice on The European Tour, but the most recent of those was back in 2007, although the 33 year old from Glasgow has had several near-misses since.
He narrowly missed out on the Open de España title in 2013 and a month later lost a play-off for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, but most famously saw a three-shot lead with four holes to play evaporate in this event at Castle Stuart in 2012.
"On the front nine I played really well, really in control of what I was doing," Warren said after a round of 67 saw him pick up six shots in his first 13 holes before two late bogeys.
"It was a little bit scrappy towards the end there but I'm tied going into tomorrow and playing with a Major Champion. I'm in a great position, a very exciting position as well.
"For us Scottish guys it doesn't get much better than this. It's our fifth Major. I've been in this situation before, so once the gun goes I'll be ready to do my job.
"Winning's never easy. It always seems to be the most difficult thing but if you're going to go through a couple of tough holes, it's great to have the home fans behind you, giving you the encouragement you need to go over the finishing line."
At ten under par, Rose and Warren hold a one shot lead over Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg, with England's Tyrrell Hatton two shots further back after matching Rose's 66.
Stirling's Craig Lee also returned a 66 to lie six under 207 alongside overnight joint leader Ricardo Gonzalez, who bogeyed three of his last seven holes in a 71.
Rory McIlroy is seven off the lead after a 68 and
defending champion Phil Mickelson another shot back after bogeys on the
16th and 18th in a round of 70.
THIRD-ROUND SCOREBOARDPar 213 (3x71)
203 M Warren (Sco) 67 69 67, J Rose (Eng) 69 68 66
204 K Broberg (Swe) 65 71 68
206 T Hatton (Eng) 69 71 66
207 C Lee (Sco) 72 69 66, R Gonzalez (Arg) 65 71 71
208 P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 73 66, M Ilonen (Fin) 71 68 69, S Lowry (Irl) 72 68 68,
209 D Willett (Eng) 70 71 68, R Karlsson (Swe) 71 71 67, M Manassero (Ita) 69 72 68,
210 R Fowler (USA) 71 71 68, R McIlroy (Nir) 64 78 68, J Hahn (USA) 71 71 68, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 70,
211 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 72 68 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 74 67 70, S Gallacher (Sco) 72 69 70, T Björn (Den) 70 73 68, D Howell (Eng) 68 70 73, R Knox (Sco) 68 74 69, A Otaegui (Esp) 71 69 71, M Siem (Ger) 73 69 69, P Mickelson (USA) 68 73 70
212 J Morrison (Eng) 71 72 69, M Foster (Eng) 71 70 71, M Ford (Eng) 75 67 70, L Bjerregaard (Den) 70 69 73, D Clarke (Nir) 69 73 70, L Donald (Eng) 67 73 72, P Casey (Eng) 69 71 72, S Dyson (Eng) 71 73 68, S Kapur (Ind) 69 75 68, S Khan (Eng) 70 71 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 67 76 69
213 M Jiménez (Esp) 74 68 71, G Coetzee (RSA) 73 70 70, R Bland (Eng) 67 74 72, R Palmer (USA) 70 72 71, G Maybin (Nir) 70 74 69, T Lewis (Eng) 70 71 72, M Laird (Sco) 70 73 70, A Levy (Fra) 75 69 69, A Forsyth (Sco) 70 73 70, O Schniederjans (USA) (am) 71 70 72
214 M Lundberg (Swe) 71 73 70, P Harrington (Irl) 71 72 71, J Walker (USA) 71 70 73, G Hutcheon (Sco) 70 70 74, P Waring (Eng) 75 66 73, T Fleetwood (Eng) 70 70 74, B Wiesberger (Aut) 74 68 72, M Hoey (Nir) 66 74 74,
215 M Jones (Aus) 71 73 71, J Singh (Ind) 70 71 74, T Aiken (RSA) 71 70 74, R Santos (Por) 73 71 71, J Luiten (Ned) 73 70 72, P Lawrie (Sco) 74 70 71, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 71 73, M Carlsson (Swe) 71 72 72, G Storm (Eng) 70 72 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 71 73 71,
216 N Fasth (Swe) 69 74 73, C Del Moral (Esp) 70 73 73, F Zanotti (Par) 70 70 76, S Henry (Sco) 73 71 72,
217 E Els (RSA) 73 71 73, M Kieffer (Ger) 71 73 73, A Quiros (Esp) 71 71 75, F Aguilar (Chi) 73 71 73, J Hansen (Den) 71 73 73, D McGrane (Irl) 71 72 74, G Stal (Fra) 68 75 74,
218 W Ormsby (Aus) 71 73 74, K Phelan (Irl) 69 73 76
220 G Bhullar (Ind) 75 69 76
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posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Saturday, July 12, 2014
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