Golfing News

Strong winds were order of the day on Saturday in the third round of the 137th British Open Golf Championship at Royal Birkdale.

In extremely blustery conditions few golfers tamed the course, double and triple bogeys abounded, the 10th hole was particularly notorious and many of the leading players lost ground there.

Australian Greg Norman, Open winner in 1986 and 1993, continues to roll back the years shooting an excellent 72 for a 54 hole total of 212, 2 over par for the tournament and two strokes ahead of his nearest challengers KJ Choi of Korea who held the lead after two rounds and defending champion Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.

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In the difficult windy conditions Norman started his round a little shakily with bogeys at the 1st, 3rd and 6th before pulling back a shot with a birdie on the 8th, the back nine started badly with a double bogey on the notorious 10th but Norman continued to play steady golf and picked up 2 shots on the remaining 8 holes thanks to fine birdies on the 14th and 17th, and he almost holed a pitch over the bunker on the 18th leaving a tap in for a par finish.

Harrington and Choi are tied for second place at 4 over par.

Harrington like Norman shot a 72 in today’s round however it was a roller coaster ride with a bogey at the 2nd, birdies at 5th and 7th, another bogey at the 8th, interestingly he was one of the few golfers today to get par at the 10th which gave him a share of the lead at the time however bogey at the 11th and double bogey at the 12th knocking off the top, birdies at the 15th and 17th sandwiched a bogey on the 16th , a par at the 18th means he will be in the final pairing with Norman on Sunday.

Choi started the day in the lead on 1 under par however a round of 75 with 2 double bogeys, 2 bogeys and just one birdie, puts him on 4 over par in joint second place.

Four players share the best round of the day carding level par 70’s, they are England’s Simon Wakefield who is now in 4th place on +5 for the tournament, American Ben Curtis +7 and a share of 5th, Henrik Stenson of Sweden +8 T9 and Davis Love III from the USA +9 T15.

Leading Amateur and favourite for the Silver Medal is Englishman Chris Wood who enjoyed a 73 today and is currently 6 shots behind Norman in a share of 9th place.

Leaderboard after 3 rounds - leading players

1 NORMAN, Greg 18 AUS 70 70 72 212 +2
T2 HARRINGTON, Padraig 18 IRL 74 68 72 214 +4
T2 CHOI, KJ 18 KOR 72 67 75 214 +4
4 WAKEFIELD, Simon 18 ENG 71 74 70 215 +5
T5 CURTIS, Ben 18 USA 78 69 70 217 +7
T5 FISHER, Ross 18 ENG 72 74 71 217 +7
T5 KIM, Anthony 18 USA 72 74 71 217 +7
T5 NOREN, Alexander 18 SWE 72 70 75 217 +7
T9 STENSON, Henrik 18 SWE 76 72 70 218 +8
T9 STORM, Graeme 18 ENG 76 70 72 218 +8
T9 WOOD, Chris (am) 18 ENG 75 70 73 218 +8
T9 POULTER, Ian 18 ENG 72 71 75 218 +8
T9 ALLENBY, Robert 18 AUS 69 73 76 218 +8
T9 MEDIATE, Rocco 18 USA 69 73 76 218 +8

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