Lawrie finds Singapore swing - 67 and tied 20th
Peter Lawrie smiles as he shoots 67 at Laguna National Golf & Country Club in Singapore. Picture: David Lloyd / www.golffile.ie
What a difference a cut makes. Just 24 hours after making the weekend for the first time in six months, Peter Lawrie cut loose in the third round of The Championship at Laguna National in Singapore, blasting six birdies in 11 holes — including four in a row — to card his lowest round for eight months.
A five under par 67 catapulted the 40-year old Dubliner 41 spots up the leaderboard to tied 20th, seven shots behind co-leaders Anders Hansen and Panuphol Pittayarat on nine under par.
As Gareth Maybin shot an encouraging 70 to move up to 27th on eight under alongside Simon Thornton (69), Lawrie hit nine fairways in his best driving display for some time and used the putter just 28 times.
Four of his eight single putts came at the start of the front nine, his homeward half, as he birdied the first, second, third and fourth to go five under for the day having picked up a shot on the par-five 15th going out.
His solitary bogey came at the sixth, where he missed the fairway and bunkered his approach. But he hit back immediately with a birdie four at the next and is now in with a chance of his first top-10 since last year's Irish Open, where he tied for 10th at Carton House.
Dane Hansen holed long birdie putts on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes for a five under par 67 to join overnight leader Pittayarat at the top of the leaderboard, with the Thai player posting a three under par 69.
Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen (67), who will retire at the end of the season, is two shots back in a share of third position alongside American David Lipsky (70), while Frenchman Grégory Bourdy (67) and Englishman Chris Wood (68) are a further stroke back on 13 under par in tied fifth position.
“I’m very pleased," Hansen said. "I didn’t the ball that great today but I made a couple of good putts on the last few holes. I hit a lot of greens but I just didn’t hit it as close as I have done the last couple of days."
Complete round three scores from Laguna National Golf & Country Club (par 72)
200 P Pittayarat (Tha) 63 68 69, A Hansen (Den) 67 66 67,
202 D Lipsky (USA) 64 68 70, R Derksen (Ned) 68 67 67,
203 G Bourdy (Fra) 66 70 67, C Wood (Eng) 68 67 68,
204 F Aguilar (Chi) 65 67 72, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 68 70 66, T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 67 69, R Gangjee (Ind) 66 67 71,
205 S Barr (Aus) 66 72 67, J Edfors (Swe) 70 67 68, S Hend (Aus) 67 65 73, B Seuk-Hyun (Kor) 66 67 72, A Lahiri (Ind) 67 70 68, A Vongvanij (Tha) 65 69 71,
206 C Lee (Sco) 72 68 66, A Levy (Fra) 70 66 70, A Lascuna (Phi) 68 69 69,
207 S Chowrasia (Ind) 68 68 71, P Lawrie (Irl) 68 72 67, R Jacquelin (Fra) 69 70 68, C Phadungsil (Tha) 67 71 69, B Rumford (Aus) 70 67 70, C Kim (USA) 67 68 72, K Broberg (Swe) 65 69 73,
208 P Meesawat (Tha) 66 70 72, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 66 71 71, N Elvira (Esp) 68 69 71, K Sung-Hoon (Kor) 68 68 72, M Warren (Sco) 69 67 72, R Fisher (Eng) 73 67 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 70 70, S Thornton (Irl) 72 67 69, G Maybin (Nir) 71 67 70, R Kakko (Fin) 70 67 71, L Ki-Sang (Kor) 68 69 71, R Karlberg (Swe) 70 68 70,
209 S Kim (Kor) 69 67 73, W Ormsby (Aus) 68 71 70, M Perera (Sri) 65 71 73, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 69 69 71, L In-Woo (Kor) 68 69 72, S Jamieson (Sco) 64 71 74, G Stal (Fra) 70 70 69, F Calmels (Fra) 68 69 72, B Ruangkit (Tha) 67 69 73, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 70 70, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 68 70,
210 S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 71 71, Q Quek (Sin) 64 74 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 69 69 72, L Chih-Bing (Sin) 71 67 72, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 70 72,
211 J Knutzon (USA) 69 71 71, N Fung (Mas) 68 71 72, K Bi-O (Kor) 68 72 71, K Gi-Whan (Kor) 68 71 72, C Kumar (Ind) 69 70 72, M Kyong-Jun (Kor) 66 72 73,
212 N Dougherty (Eng) 69 70 73, C Nirat (Tha) 71 69 72, F Zanotti (Par) 70 68 74, J Janewattananond (Tha) 70 69 73, P Waring (Eng) 70 69 73,
213 J Singh (Ind) 67 72 74, V Riu (Fra) 67 71 75, J Campillo (Esp) 73 67 73,
214 A Da Silva (Bra) 69 71 74,
215 M Kawamura (Jpn) 70 70 75, A Dodt (Aus) 70 70 75,
** K Byung-Jun (Kor) 64 76 DQ,
