RORY HOPES EARLY NIGHT CAN ALP HIM
RORY MCILROY said his recent exertions had caught up with him after he bungled his European Masters challenge.
A sloppy bogey, bogey finish yesterday left him three strokes behind leader Andres Romero in the third round at the Omega European Masters in the Swiss Alps.
Mcilroy hit a poor fairway bunker shot over the green at the 17th and then, from another fairway bunker at the par-four 18th, found a greenside pond at Cranssur-sierre Golf Club.
He sunk an eight-foot putt to not drop more than one shot.
“I felt a little flat out there, a little tired, maybe it just all caught up with me,” the Northern Irishman said after a one-under-par 69 that left him equal fifth FRANCE’S Nicolas Edet became the new overall leader in the Vuelta a Espana as Nikias Arndt sprinted to victory ry on stage eight.
Team
Sunweb’s Arndt finished out front from a
20-strong breakaway in the hilly ride through Catalonia from Valls to Igualada for his first Grand Tour stage win since the 2016 Giro ahead of today’s final round. Mcilroy (above) has had to adjust to a six-hour time change from last week, and also come down from the emotional high that accompanied his victory, and Fedex Cup title, at the Tour Championship in Atlanta last Sunday.
“Looking forward to getting into bed early tonight and getting a good night’s sleep,” he said. “Still, a good front nine tomorrow and I’ll still be in it.”
Along with his two closing bogeys, Mcilroy also recorded a poor bogey at the par-five 14th, made all the more disappointing by a 400-yard-plus drive that rolled nearly 100 yards after landing on a downhill section of the fairway.
But left with only a flick into the green, he pushed his subsequent wedge into a pond. d’italia. Edet (below) came 11th in the stage to snatch the red jersey from Miguel Angel Lopez and take an ove overall lead of two m minutes 21 seconds from Belgian Dylan Teuns.
The group cont containing the previous day’s GC contenders, including Lopez and Primoz Roglic, was nine minutes 24 seconds down.