Open & shut race
Stephen counting cost of late bogeys
Stephen Gallacher saw his hopes of Oman Open glory wrecked by a late thirdround slump in Muscat.
The Scot was hot on the heels of the leaders before shedding four shots in the last four holes to slump out of contention.
That saw Gallacher, who started “moving day” in a share of the lead by one, sign for a two-over 74 and plunge four shots off the pace in a share of 12th place.
It had all started so well for the Bathgate ace, bidding for his first European Tour title since winning the Hero Indian Open 11 months ago.
Birdies at the second hole and, for the second day running, at the fifth, had him out on his own at the top of the leaderboard.
But then the birdies dried up and he started moving backwards with a run of nine straight pars.
Things began to get worse from the 15th, when he walked off with a bogey. Gallacher recovered from a greenside bunker to make par at the long 16th but then dropped another shot at the 17th.
That sinking feeling continued when he drove his tee shot into the Sea of Oman at the final hole.
A superb fourth shot to just four feet looked to have limited the damage – only for Gallacher to fail to hole the putt as he ran up a double-bogey six.
Callum Shinkwin is one of six players sharing the lead going into the final round on 11 under – despite finding trouble on the 18th hole for the second round in a row.
Video of the Englishman’s troubles on Friday when he hit a shot on to out-of-bounds rocks and saw it bounce three times in different directions before landing back on the course on his way to a double-bogey six, went viral. His final hole was a bit more straightforward yesterday,but he still ran up a bogey to finish with a 66.
That saw him alongside Finnish duo Sami Valimaki
(64) and Mikko Korhonen (65), South African Brandon Stone (69), Dane Rasmus Hojgaard (70) and Dutchman Joost Luiten, who carded a 67 as he bids to regain the title he won at the inuaugural event in 2018.
Watford ace Shinkwin said: “I played great – I just have to sort that last hole out and I should be doing quite well.
“It is quite easy now to go out there and force the situation but I will just let it happen tomorrow and hope that my experience from previous years can help me shoot a score that’s good enough to win.”
Gallacher’s fellow Scots Craigielaw’s Grant Forrest and Drumoig’s Connor Syme both signed for 69s to sit in a share of 29th place on four under.