Shaw at the thick of it in Waterloo
Gareth Shaw’s third round 65 has left put in the mix at Royal Waterloo. Gareth Shaw will be hoping his recent experience will stand after a sensational tird round 65 left him just a shot off the pace heading into the final round of the Telenet Trophy at Royal Waterloo in Belgium.
The Lurgan player was just a stroke off the lead at halfway in the Montecchia Golf Open in Italy three weeks ago but closed with rounds of 72 and 76 to finish 20 shots behind the winner in 46th.
Writing on his blog at the time, Shaw said:
“The emotions are different and the thoughts can creep into your head about winning but on the whole I was pleased with how I handled it all. The truth is I just played poorly in round 4, and in round 3, despite holing 4 putts from 20 feet, I missed 5 putts inside 6 feet – that was the difference really.
“But overall it fills me with confidence that I am good enough to compete out here and with the correct work done with my team behind the scenes I will be that position again soon and the next time I will play well.”
Seven shots behind leaders Robert Dinwiddie and Roope Kakko at halfway following a pair of one under 70s, Shaw produced six birdies in an immaculate third round 65 to set the clubhouse target.
Birdies at the first, third and par-three seventh saw him turn in 33 and he then came home in 32 with further gains at the 10th, 13th and par-five 17th.
The Belfast man entered the weekend seven shots off the top but, despite more favourable conditions at the sun-drenched Belgian venue, the leaders failed to make hay and Shaw was the biggest mover on moving day, climbing 32 places.
The 27-year old’s best finish on the Challenge Tour came during his rookie season five years ago when he finished tied fourth at Glasson in Ireland and he is happy to be in contention again at Waterloo.
“It’s nice to be up there,” said Shaw. “This is what it’s all about. I haven’t got a win yet as a professional but I played pretty well whenever I was under pressure last year so hopefully I can do the same thing.
“I pitched in at the first for birdie today, from just off the back, so that was a nice way to start I guess. It eases you into the round nicely, then I birdied the third after two good shots into the par five.
“I just kept the ball in play. I don’t feel like I’m playing great but because of that I’m thinking well. Today I putted better and didn’t miss any short putts so I’m pretty happy.”
Welshman Stuart Manley has a share of the lead. Picture courtesy Getty Images.Dinwiddie had to finish birdie-birdie for a level par 71 to retain a share the lead with Welshman Stuart Manley (67) and Australia’s Daniel Gaunt (69) on nine under.
Shaw is tied for fourth with England’s Tyrrell Hatton (66) and former European Tour winner José-Felipe Lima (68) on eight under with the top 26 players covered by just four shots.
Simon Thornton shot a level par 71 to slip to joint 47th on one under.
Manley climbed into a share of that lead courtesy of a four under 67 - the fifth sub-69 score in his last seven rounds on the Challenge Tour, having finishing tied fourth at the Montecchia Golf Open presented by POLAROID two weeks ago.
It will be a little bit of history repeating for the 34 year old as he was also in the final group the last time he played the beautiful Royal Waterloo parkland, set in the leafy suburb of Brussels.
That time out, his playing partner François Calmels emerged victorious but the former Walker Cup player is feeling positive entering the final round.
“I am pretty confident,” said Manley. “I didn’t seal it on the last day the last time around but it’s just nice being in contention. I will probably be a bit more positive and aggressive and go for it more this time around.
“I played pretty solid today. I was expecting the leaders to pull away and have some good scores so when I looked at the leaderboard and saw I was at the top I was quite surprised.”
Gaunt, meanwhile, signed for a two under par 69 to move to the summit and the Melbourne-born player revealed that he is currently benefiting from some big changes in his lifestyle and his game, having given up smoking last week while also acquiring a belly-putter prior to this tournament.
“I haven’t played badly all year to be honest, even though I’ve been struggling to make cuts,” said the 34 year old. “It just makes a big difference when putts drop. I was missing two-footers for fun, I’ve been so frustrated. I didn’t want to make the putter change but it’s what I needed to do to build some confidence. This is a course I know I can handle and it would be good to get a win tomorrow and push on from here.”
Dinwiddie struggled to build on the second round 65 which handed him a share of the lead going into the weekend but he produced an impressive comeback with a two under par back nine earning him a level par round of 71 to remain at the top.
Scores
204 D Gaunt (Aus) 69 66 69, S Manley (Wal) 67 70 67, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 68 65 71,
205 J Lima (Por) 72 65 68, T Hatton (Eng) 71 68 66, G Shaw (Nir) 70 70 65,
206 A Otaegui (Esp) 67 70 69, R Kakko (Fin) 65 68 73, B Koepka (USA) 68 70 68, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 66 69, D Vancsik (Arg) 66 71 69,
207 R McGowan (Eng) 72 68 67, D Kemmer (USA) 67 68 72, C Russo (Fra) 69 66 72, L Goddard (Eng) 64 71 72,
208 W Besseling (Ned) 69 68 71, R Davies (Wal) 67 68 73, S Hutsby (Eng) 69 67 72, D Im (USA) 71 66 71, P Maddy (Eng) 72 66 70, C Kim (USA) 72 67 69, S Kim (Kor) 69 69 70, D Ulrich (Sui) 74 65 69, C Aguilar (Esp) 71 66 71, T Sluiter (Ned) 68 67 73, S Tiley (Eng) 71 69 68,
209 A Perrino (Ita) 69 71 69, N Quintarelli (Ita) 72 67 70, D Dixon (Eng) 71 70 68, A Hortal (Esp) 71 69 69, W Booth (Sco) 70 68 71, B Etchart (Esp) 73 68 68, P Dwyer (Eng) 68 69 72, B Hebert (Fra) 69 70 70, V Riu (Fra) 68 69 72,
210 G Watremez (Bel) 71 70 69, J Ruth (Eng) 67 71 72, L Weber (Fra) 70 70 70, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 70 71 69, J Guerrier (Fra) 68 70 72, F Calmels (Fra) 70 67 73, R Russell (Sco) 70 70 70, D Brooks (Eng) 68 72 70, D Denison (Eng) 66 73 71,
211 S Kapur (Ind) 70 67 74, A Bernadet (Fra) 69 72 70,
212 S Piaget (Mon) 70 70 72, S Thornton (Irl) 71 70 71, Å Nilsson (Swe) 64 75 73, A McArthur (Sco) 71 70 71, E Johansen (Nor) 72 69 71, M Sell (Eng) 66 69 77, J Doherty (Sco) 69 72 71,
213 J Glennemo (Swe) 69 72 72, F De Vries (Ned) 70 71 72, A Rota (Ita) 71 70 72,
214 A Pavan (Ita) 72 69 73,
215 B Parker (Eng) 70 70 75, T Fournier (Fra) 70 71 74,
216 K Borsheim (Nor) 70 71 75, E Bertheussen (Nor) 72 69 75,
217 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 70 77, O Floren (Swe) 68 72 77,
219 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 71 79,