Sugrue leads home challenge as Rai seeks wire-to-wire win
BALLYMENA, NORTHERN IRELAND - SEPTEMBER 26: Aaron Rai of England hits his second shot on the 9th hole during Day Three of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort on September 26, 2020 in Ballymena, United Kingdom. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
James Sugrue leads the home challenge but he lamented his lack of luck with the blade as a two-over 72 left him 10 shots off the pace with a round to play in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Castle.
The Mallow amateur (23) completed a two-over 72 in the morning, then followed that with a three-over 73 to share 26th place on two-over.
“Today I don’t think I could have had a worse score,” Sugrue said. “I actually played well; a lot better than I played yesterday. But I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole.
“It was just one of the those days. I played well and felt like I hit some really good putts as well. But they were just weren’t dropping, unfortunately.”
It’s still been an outstanding performance from Sugrue, who arrived in Ballymena from the US Open at a gruelling Winged Foot.
At the top of the leaderboard, Aaron Rai added a 67 to rounds of 65 and 70 to take a one-stroke lead over Australian Maverick Antcliff into the final round
The Englishman, who earned his maiden victory at the Honma Hong Kong Open presented by Amundi in 2018, started the day in a two-way share of the lead alongside Australia's Maverick Antcliff but pulled clear courtesy of a three under par third round of 67.
Rai has led the field or shared the lead after each of the opening three rounds in Northern Ireland and is looking to complete a remarkable double, having won in wire-to-wire fashion in Hong Kong.
Antcliff was one of a number of players who had to return to the golf course this morning to finish his second round, carding eagle on the final hole for a second round 65 before doing it all over again and carding a third round 68.
The 27-year-old sits just one shot behind Rai as he aims to win his first European Tour title in just his 19th start. One stroke further back on six under par are the trio of Dean Burmester, Jazz Janewattananond and Oscar Lengden
Jonny Caldwell is the next best of the Irish, tied for 35th on four-over after a 73, after another testing day at the Ballymena layout.
“It’s a great layout,” he said. “I have never seen the rough like it is this week and the fairways being as tight as they are and some challenging pin positions as well and the greens faster.
“So in terms of difficulty, it is certainly the most difficult I have played it this week. But it is a good challenge and everyone is enjoying the fact that we are playing and the course is in good condition.”
Glasson’s Colm Moriarty is tied for 54th on seven-over after a 73 with Kilkenny amateur Mark Power a shot further back after also shooting three-over yesterday.
“Conditions were pretty tough,” Moriarty said. “I didn’t get off to a great start but then I had it back to one-under after nine and dropped a few shots coming in.
“It is difficult out there with the way the course is set up with the rough, the pin positions and a lot of crosswinds. It is hard to get the ball close to the hole and you don’t have to do much wrong to drop a shot but it is the same for everybody.”
The former Walker Cup player and Challenge Tour winner is playing in his first European Tour event since he teed it up at Ballyliffin two years ago.
”It’s been great to be back,” he said. “The last few years I haven’t had the opportunity to play much. It is great to be back competing at this level for sure. “
What they said
Aaron Rai (ENG), 65-70-67 (-8)
“I’m pleased with the round overall. It wasn’t easy, the course isn’t playing easy and it wasn’t easy conditions today. It’s always different going out in the final group and with the co-lead on day three, so it’s nice to play with that and play relatively freely and solid today.
“It was good to hit a nice shot into number 12, I hit a few and leaked them right on the previous two holes. It was great to roll the putt in, especially when you’re above the hole, you can have some really slick putts. I was just trying to coax that down there and was really fortunate for it to go in.
“I said to Jason, my caddie, that was a pretty good lie in the rough (on 16). You can get a lot worse than that. I was fortunate to get a six iron on that and get it on the green.
“It would be incredible (to win). Any title on the European Tour is fantastic, the Irish Open has an illustrious history, it’s a huge event, it always has been. I want to put that out of my mind going into tomorrow. There’s still a lot of significance to it, but I’ll hope to do the same kind of things and see where it puts us at the end of tomorrow.
“It’s a real test throughout the game, from driver you have to make good opportunities with your irons and the greens are very quick as well, which is surprising considering how much rain we’ve had. The course is in amazing shape, it’s a great test and I’m very pleased to be eight under at the moment.
“It’s hard to read the significance (of my win at Hong Kong), it was two years ago and a big lead going into the last round. It’s a lot tighter this week. It’s great to have that experience, to already have a win on the European Tour and the experience of being in this position on the Challenge Tour as well. Those will definitely be useful to draw on tomorrow, it is a completely new day on a new course in new conditions, no two days are ever the same in golf so we’ll see what happens.
“The Irish Open has an illustrious history, I watched it growing up and I’ve been watching it over the last few years. It would be incredible. It’s still 18 holes of golf and I’ve got to try and do exactly what I have done over the last few days. Do my best and see what happens.“
Maverick Antcliff (AUS), 70-65-68 (-7)
“It was pretty solid, an early start this morning and having to restart, having to refocus. The birdie on the first helped calm the nerves and I just tried to work my way into the round.
“It was a similar situation last week in Portugal, so I’m drawing on those experiences and trying to switch off between rounds, have a coffee and chill-out. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m sure I’ll probably feel it in the morning.
“(The par saves at 17 and 18) were huge. Just nice to hole a couple when I needed to and keep a bit of momentum going. Tomorrow should be good fun.”
Oscar Lengden (SWE), 67-71-66 (-6)
“Fairways, greens and the putter is working this week as well. The most important thing is I’m pretty solid off the tee. I have good memories of this golf course as well.
I’ve played here twice before and had two top tens. That obviously helps me a lot. I’ve hit good shots here in the past and I’m trying to think about those all the time – it's working pretty well.
“I started off on a mini Tour back in Sweden and won almost four out of five weeks – I jumped up to the Challenge Tour and won twice there. I haven’t really climbed since then, I’ve been stuck, I’m waiting for that breakthrough at the moment.
“(Winning on the European Tour) would be amazing. I’m not going to get that far ahead right now, but I’m really pleased to be in contention this week.
Jazz Janewattananond (THA), 68-70-66 (-6)
“It was similar to home, I guess. Just 20 degrees colder. I played really good and enjoyed the nice weather.
“The U.S. Open was something else, I’ve never played a golf course that tough before, which puts things into perspective of how hard a golf course can be and how lucky we are to play a golf course like this.
“I grew up in a really hot country and the European Tour mainly plays in really cold countries. It’s going to be a stepping stone for me for sure. I feel like it’s very good for my golf.
“I need to hope the weather stays calm and hot for tomorrow.
Dean Burmester (RSA), 65-71-68 (-6)
“It was good today, I got off to a nice start birdieing the first and kept it together through nine holes. I didn’t hit it that well to be honest, kept giving myself 50-plus feet and made a lot of really good two-putts there. I didn’t birdie ten again today but managed to hit it in tight on 12 and then just scrambled my way in and made a long one on the last which was nice.
“(Work on the putting green) paid off. I don’t know how many putts there were today, but it wasn’t a lot. Now we need to find the fairways with the driver, try and get it close to the pins and hopefully we’ll have a chance come the last few holes tomorrow.
“To be honest I haven’t been looking (at the leaderboard) a lot. I know it’s a tough golf course, Antcliff was nine under at one stage – now he’s seven under – that can happen quickly with double or triple bogeys if you hit it off-line. It’s one of those golf courses, a U.S. Open sort of mentality. You have to have a grinder mentality, grind your pars and when you have some birdie putts just take them and run.”
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Galgorm Castle Golf Club (Par 70)
Final round tee-times (amended Sunday am)
202 A Rai (Eng) 65 70 67,
203 M Antcliff (Aus) 70 65 68,
204 D Burmester (Rsa) 65 71 68, O Lengden (Swe) 67 71 66, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 70 66,
205 T Tree (Eng) 66 70 69, L Herbert (Aus) 71 67 67,
206 J Smith (Eng) 65 71 70, J Catlin (USA) 67 70 69, J Harding (RSA) 68 69 69,
207 J Lagergren (Swe) 70 66 71, S Hend (Aus) 68 69 70, E Ferguson (Sco) 70 67 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 67 75 65,
208 L Canter (Eng) 73 67 68,
209 D Huizing (Ned) 70 69 70, J Senior (Eng) 70 73 66,
210 R Bland (Eng) 72 67 71, A Meronk (Pol) 71 69 70, J Luiten (Ned) 71 70 69,
211 M Armitage (Eng) 69 71 71, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 74 70, A Rozner (Fra) 73 72 66, M Kawamura (Jpn) 74 71 66,
212 J Guerrier (Fra) 68 70 74, James Sugrue (Am) (Irl) 67 72 73, L Bjerregaard (Den) 68 74 70, F Zanotti (Par) 70 72 70, J Hansen (Den) 72 72 68, C Howie (Sco) 73 71 68, B Stow (Eng) 70 75 67,
213 S Crocker (Usa) 72 67 74, C Hill (Sco) 70 70 73, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 74 68,
214 R Rock (Eng) 69 67 78, D Law (Sco) 69 69 76, N Elvira (Esp) 69 71 74, C Sordet (Fra) 70 70 74, Jonathan Caldwell (Nir) 71 70 73, D Coupland (Eng) 72 69 73, J Morrison (Eng) 72 69 73, W Nienaber (RSA) 70 72 72, A Cañizares (Esp) 71 72 71,
215 L Van Meijel (Ned) 71 71 73, A Arnaus (Esp) 73 69 73, D Whitnell (Eng) 71 72 72, G Coetzee (RSA) 71 73 71, G Porteous (Eng) 73 71 71,
216 O Farr (Wal) 70 70 76, J Scrivener (Aus) 73 69 74, S Brown (Eng) 71 74 71, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 72 71, A Cockerill (Can) 75 70 71,
217 N Lemke (Swe) 68 74 75, M Simonsen (Den) 68 75 74, J McLeod (Aus) 70 73 74, M Fenasse (Fra) 72 72 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 72 72 73, M Southgate (Eng) 74 70 73, Colm Moriarty (Irl) 75 69 73,
218 D Van Driel (Ned) 73 70 75, J Stalter (Fra) 74 70 74, M Schmitt (Ger) 73 72 73, Mark Power (Am) (Irl) 74 71 73, W Besseling (Ned) 74 71 73,
219 Damien McGrane (Irl) 70 74 75,
220 S Sharma (Ind) 72 72 76, R McGowan (Eng) 73 71 76, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 76 75, R Wattel (Fra) 74 71 75
