The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Sciot-Siegrist takes control after Luiten’s horror show
Golf: Dutchman’ s meltdown leaves him outside the top 10 for final day
Robin Sciot-Siegrist will take a commanding threestroke lead into the final round of the Euram Bank Open in Austria after a day to forget for Dutchman Joost Luiten.
Six-time European Tour winner Luiten was topping the leaderboard before taking a quintuple bogey 10 at the par-5 7 th hole.
That was followed by dropped shots at holes 8 and 9 on his way to a fourover-par 74. Luiten heads into the final round sitting tied 11th on eight under following his opening scores of 65 and 63.
Frenchman Sciot-Siegrist had a far more productive day at Golf Club Adamstal with a sublime bogey-free nine under par round of 61.
He started the third round three strokes behind overnight leader Luiten and made a steady start to the day with birdies on the third and fifth holes before play was suspended for nearly two hours due to lightning in the area.
After the restart, the 26-year-old stormed out of the blocks with six birdies in a row from the eighth hole, capping off a fantastic display with his ninth gain of the day on the 16th.
Sciot-Siegrist is making his 12th European Tour start this week after securing playing rights at Q-School last November. His best result to date came at the ISPS Handa Vic Open in February, where he finished third.
He said: “I put a great round together. I made a lot of putts. I’m happy to be in a position to do something good.
“The delay was good for me. I was two under right before and then made six birdies in a row right after.
“Sometimes weather delays are not great but this time it was awesome.
“I hit some good shots. I hit a lot of fairways and had some great opportunities to make birdies.
“But I don’t want to have too many expectations. Winning a tournament takes four days. I have to play well, whatever happens, and there are a lot of people that want to win, so I’m just going to do my best and we’ll see.”
Meldrum House golfer
Chris Robb is tied 15th on seven under after a oneover-par 71.
Meanwhile, Lee Westwood says he cannot wait to become the first player to host the Betfred British Masters on two occasions when the tournament returns to Close House, near Newcastle upon Tyne, next week, marking the start of the European Tour’s new six-event UK Swing.
He said: “I did it in 2017, three years ago here at Close House, and I really enjoyed it. I learnt a lot about what goes in to running a golf tournament. It was tough to do it that week and play golf too, I sort of ran out of steam towards the end, but it is going to be different this year.
“No crowds, a little less media and things like that, which will allow me to focus more time on trying to win the golf tournament this time round.”