The Open: The story of round three at St Andrews
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Mild, still and soft conditions greeted the players on Sunday morning and the early starters took full advantage at what seemed a world away from Saturday’s monster. First out at 8:15am was David Duval, the 2001 Open champion having made the cut on the mark with a birdie on his 36th hole. He played with the freedom that afforded, making seven birdies in a 67 to get to five-under for the Championship.
Someone who looked set to beat that mark in the clubhouse was 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell. The Northern Irishman was on the same score with five holes to play but dropped three shots in his last five holes to drop back to two-under after a 70. That turned out to be mediocre as others in the first dozen or so groups came in. Americans Mahan (67), Furyk (66), Dufner (67), Martin (67), Fowler (66), Reed (67) and Palmer (67) took full advantage of the placid conditions, before Australia’s Marc Leishman – fifth at last year’s Open – fired a stunning 64 to get to nine-under.
The home charges weren’t to be outdone either. Eddie Pepperell was eight-under through sixteen holes before he pushed his drive out of bounds at the treacherous 17th. He would make double there and par the last for a 66 and eight-under. Compatriot Andy Sullivan’s 68 included an eagle at the 14th and a birdie at the Road Hole, but he still couldn’t beat amateur playing partner Ashley Chesters. The man from Shropshire carded a stunning 67 to temporarily tie for low amateur. That was until Paul Dunne and Jordan Niebrugge teed off, with the latter shooting a 67 to get to nine-under for the tournament. Amazingly, that is three behind Dunne who leads the Claret Jug as well as the Silver Medal stakes heading into the final round tomorrow.
They were amongst the later starters and plenty of the more established names cashed in too as conditions once again remained consistent throughout. Dunne’s fellow Irishman Padraig Harrington made one of the biggest moves, the two-time winner carding a 65 to get to 10-under. That is one clear of Rose, Garcia, Scott and Goosen and one behind Jordan Spieth who gave himself a realistic chance of winning a third straight major with a 66 that got him to one off the lead. As well as the Irish amateur, that is shared by 2010 champion Louis Oosthuizen and perennial major contender Jason Day at 12-under.
The last two groups must have wondered what all the fuss was about with birdies hard to come by on the front nine. Home favourites Paul Lawrie and Marc Warren attracted huge crowds but could manage just two birdies between them going out and it was a similar struggle coming in – the Scottish duo eventually signing for 74 and 72 respectively.
As for the final group, Dustin Johnson turned in 37 (one-over), and had to wait until the 15th for his first birdie of the day. He gave it straight back and the 16th – the first of three straight bogeys to finish. It all added up to a 75 that sees him five shots back going into tomorrow. It was a day of sloppy errors for the American and one that will only raise further questions about his state of mind when in contention at the business end of a major. Playing partner Danny Willett got bogged down with him for a time before throwing off the shackles at the fifth. Birdie there was backed up by further birdies around the turn before it all turned sour. Back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14 – the latter after a wild slash out of bounds off the tee – were followed by another on 17 and a par on 18. He goes into tomorrow three shots adrift of the triumvirate at the top with 25 players inside five shots of the lead.
What they said…
David Duval (USA, -5): ‘I expected to play well at some point. I’ve been doing what I want to do for a long time, just not putting this together. The difficulties I face is not getting to play. Competing against the best golfers in the world and the Dustin Johnsons and Jordan Spieths and Rorys is not a fair fight when I haven’t played a golf tournament in three or four months and they’ve been playing constantly. But you know, I faced a challenge yesterday, and it made me feel real good to do what I did. Then just went out today, and it was a nice day, conditions weren’t too bad and I just hit the golf shots I wanted to do and made a few putts, and that’s what happens.’
Graeme McDowell (NIR, -2): ‘I played lovely. I drove the ball disgusting. I’m not really quite sure what’s wrong with my driving the ball. I’ve got the left, going left with the driver only and everything else is pretty good. I hit it in the trap on 6 and compounded the error and made double there, and I hit it in the trap on the par-5, 14th, and compounded the error there. I left it in the bunker, just trying to be a little too greedy, and that was kind of the story of the round really. Eight birdies — it was obviously fairly benign and fairly there for the taking this morning, but I mean, that’s got to go down as an extremely frustratingly disappointing round that one unfortunately because it was there or thereabouts. Shit happens, though. You know, we’re continuing to grind and grow, and we’re getting there.’
Jim Furyk (USA, -6): ‘We had perfect conditions for 17 holes out there. The game’s in decent shape even though I haven’t played since the US Open. I hit the ball nicely all day, and a made a pile full of putts today. This town’s a wonderful venue, there’s a real buzz, electricity around the place and it’s pretty fun.’
Ashley Chesters (Eng, -6): ‘The first two days I didn’t actually feel pressure, but for some reason this morning I didn’t hit the ball very well on the range, which didn’t help, so for the first hole I was definitely a bit shaky. It was more like when I played the first round last year rather than the first two days, but I don’t know whether that was just the fact I hadn’t hit the ball very well on the range or the fact that I hadn’t played the third round of a major before. But I hit it close in the second and then after that the nerves went.’
Rickie Fowler (USA, -7): ‘First two days I got absolutely nothing out of it. Couldn’t hit the ball any better tee to green. I would have put myself up against pretty much anyone here, and just couldn’t get the ball in the hole. Kind of frustrating when you go out and hit the ball that well and just, like I said, got absolutely nothing out of it, so it was nice to make some putts today, continue to swing it well. One bogey. It would have been nice to go with a clean card, but good, solid day, and put myself back in a good position.’
Eddie Pepperell (Eng, -8): ‘I feel pretty good. Yeah, I mean, obviously to finish double bogey-par is disappointing, I suppose, around this golf course, but ultimately my swing was in — I didn’t hit the right shot off the 17th tee, and that’s a problem with my swing, quite frankly. I need to go and work on that this afternoon and make sure I can stand up on that tee tomorrow and feel confident again to hit the right shot. But all in all, if somebody would have said you take 66 and be in this position after three days, I probably would have taken it.’
Padraig Harrington (Ire, -10): ‘I always wanted to shoot 65 on the Sunday of an Open. Obviously there’s another round to go tomorrow. Today was very, very important. This is not a golf course that the leaders tend to come back on, so you really do have to give yourself — be somewhat there or thereabouts going into Sunday. Somebody at the end of the day, you could obviously see 14-under leading, and with enough people up there, somebody is going to shoot 65 tomorrow from 10-under up. You know, if it’s a nice day tomorrow, I’m not sure of the forecast, you’re realistically talking 16-, 17-under being a possible winning score, so you ain’t going to do that from 6- or 7-under. So it was a big day to shoot a good score, to get yourself in contention. We’ll have something to play for tomorrow.’
Sergio Garcia (Spa, -9): ‘I love this tournament. Everybody knows it’s – after the Ryder Cup, it’s my favourite tournament. For so many reasons. Obviously I’ve been fortunate to do well on it. I think – I mean, I love the courses, the links game. I really, really enjoy it, and also the people. I feel like they carry me around the golf course wherever I go. It doesn’t matter if I’m doing well or not so well. They’re always there and cheering, and I can really feel the energy. You know, it’s great.’
Jordan Spieth (USA, -11): ‘I’d like to have a chance to do something nobody has ever done, and so if I think about it that way, then I just want it a little bit more tomorrow, to be able to try and go into the last major and accomplish something that’s never been done in our sport is something that only comes around to a couple people ever, and I’d like to be one of those people to have that happen. That’s just going to go into my fight tomorrow.’
Louis Oosthuizen (USA, -12): ‘Confidence-wise, knowing I’ve done it before at this golf course, I will take a lot from that. But there’s a lot of golf that needs to be played. Jordan is obviously looking at making history, so you can expect him to fire on early and to really be up there. Jason is playing unbelievable. There’s so many players that can still win this. It’s going to be — I think it’s going to be one of the tightest Opens.’
Paul Dunne: (Ire, -12): ‘I think it’ll be the same as the last three days, just look at the weather, see what the weather is going to throw at us and then put a number in my head that I think I need to shoot. I’m not really going to think about winning or where I’m going to finish until the last few holes. If my strategy needs to change a little bit. But yeah, I can’t control what other people do. Everyone could go out and shoot 63 or everyone could shoot 75. All I can do is control committing to my shots and hopefully leaves me in good stead at the end of the day.’
Jason Day: (Aus, -12): ‘I think it’s just over the last few years that I’ve played and been in contention at major championships, I’ve learnt – I felt like I’ve learnt a lot. I think the biggest thing for me is just to understand that tomorrow is going to be a tough round. There’s going to be a lot of wind, there’s going to be a lot of rain, there’s going to be a lot of guys that are going to shoot low scores. It’s a pretty tight leaderboard if you look at it. There’s a lot of good players that are behind us trying to chase that lead. Trying not to get so absorbed and attached to the leaderboard, and pretty much what I did today, just to really stay patient and let the birdies come to you, really focus on what I need to do to try and get the ball as close to the pin as I can and give myself opportunities. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a good challenge. I think I need to just embrace it more. It’s hard to — as I was saying earlier, it’s hard to stay present in situations like this. It’s hard to not get out in front of yourself, especially tonight when you’re thinking and you’re laying in bed, even through the round tomorrow. It can be hard to stay present. That’s one key that I’m going to try and do the best I can is really just kind of focus on myself and be present as much as possible.’
