Ecc of a tribute
TED MACAULEY FORMULA ONE’S kicked-out kingpin Bernie Ecclestone is the star of the show of today’s glitzy Festival of Speed in front of a sellout crowd at Goodwood.
The Brit, 86, was ousted in a takeover of Grand Prix racing but will be remembered in a mega show of five stages of his career – as a racer, manager, team owner, impresario and a legend.
It is the first time the Festival has ever focused on an individual, not a car.
Lord March, founder of the Festival of Speed, said: “This is not so much a tribute but rather a Goodwood celebration of a fine man who has had such a huge influence on the sport we love.”
Ecclestone said: “I am honoured by this tribute at such an extra special occasion for speed fans.
“It will be a special day.” PHIL GIRVAN
After following eight straight pars by pulling his drive on the ninth into the water for the second day running, Pieters took his anger out on the offending club and saw the shaft snap.
However, the Belgian, 25 – who won a record four points on his Ryder Cup debut last year – immediately regained his composure to birdie the next two holes and then picked up another shot on the 15th.
And the resulting 69 left Pieters seven under par, just one shot off the lead shared by Peter Uihlein and Alexander Bjork at Le Golf National, which will stage the biennial contest between Europe and the United States in 2018.
“I wasn’t trying to break my driver at all,” said Pieters.
“Me and my caddie kind of laughed because I just put it in my bag and I think there’s maybe a soft spot in the shaft or something.
“I didn’t put it in with a lot of force and it broke. I mean, it’s my own fault and to have to play the back nine on this course without a driver is not easy.
“I definitely took some penalty for that. I didn’t hit a lot of fairways and left myself long second shots, which wasn’t fun. I was swinging it badly. Thank God I putted well.”
“I just need to go to the range and work on some stuff and I think there’s going to be a phone call to my coach Pete Cowen today.
“I’m still where I want to be. I can’t really believe that I’m one off the lead with such poor play. I am hopefully going to fix that and go low tomorrow, because the leaderboard is very bunched.”
A level-par 71 was enough for halfway joint-leader Uihlein to remain at the head of the field and the American will look to take inspiration from the US Open victory of his former house-mate Brooks Koepka.
“I think it was coming for BK, he’s been playing awesome,” Uihlein said. “I was excited for him. I felt like the way that course set up, it was pretty tailor-made for him.
“It was awesome to see. He striped it down the stretch and that was pretty awesome.”
Uihlein and Bjork enjoy a one-shot lead over Pieters, Tommy Fleetwood and Andy Sullivan, whose 68 equalled the lowest score of a wet and windy day on the outskirts of Paris.
Fleetwood, 26, who was fourth behind Koepka in the US Open at Erin Hills and followed up with a tie for sixth in last week’s BMW International Open, carded three birdies and three bogeys in his 71.
The Southport ace, who won his second European Tour title in Abu Dhabi in January, said: “It’s been a great year so far but you have to keep it going, don’t you?
“I’ve said it all the time this year but when you’ve had a year of struggling, you really do appreciate being in contention on a Sunday.
“It doesn’t get any better than this. These events, great players, great course, Sunday, trying to win it.”
Welshman Bradley Dredge is just two shots off the lead after a third straight 69, with Ross Fisher, Paul Waring and halfway joint-leader Adrian Otaegui a shot back on five under.
Waring held the outright lead after his fourth birdie of the day on the 14th but then double-bogeyed the 15th and 18th after finding the water with his approach. At the other end of the leaderboard, Chris Wood struggled to a third-round 79 to lie eight over par before withdrawing from the event due to injury. Wood tweeted: “Shame to WD from the French open today, but a wrist injury picked up in practice last week got worse last couple of
days.”