Lowry and Harrington charge up leaderboard as Colsaerts falls back
IRELAND’S Shane Lowry surged into contention for his first victory in two years as Justin Rose closed in on his second in two weeks in the £5.3million Turkish Airlines Open.
Lowry carded a bogey-free third round of 65 at the Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort to join Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat in the lead on 14 under par, with Rose, Padraig Harrington and halfway leader Nicolas Colsaerts two shots behind.
Lowry’s last win was the 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational and he has slipped from a high of 17th in the world to his current ranking of 93rd.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve won and I can’t remember back that far,’ Lowry said. ‘But when I’m out there tomorrow hopefully something comes flooding back to me and I manage to get the job done.
‘I’m looking forward to getting out there and being in the hunt. I haven’t really been there for a while, so it will be good. I’ve dropped down the rankings over the last while so it will be nice to earn a few world ranking points, a few Race to Dubai points as well and make sure I’m playing in Dubai (the season-ending DP World Tour Championship) in a couple of weeks.’
Colsaerts was four shots clear overnight and played the front nine in 32, but collapsed to a back nine of 41 to throw the tournament – and possibly the Race to Dubai – wide open.
Rose began the week just over a million points behind Tommy Fleetwood on the money list, but 985,000 points are on offer to the winner in Antalya and Fleetwood would win around 58,000 if he remains in a tie for 27th.
‘Today was the best I’ve played all week, and maybe even better than last week,’ Rose, who overturned an eight-shot deficit to world number one Dustin Johnson to win the WGCHSBC Champions in Shanghai, said after a bogey-free 64.
‘Since the FedExCup started I’ve been playing really, really solid golf and obviously the confidence always increases after a win. I knew I had a low round in me and to find it today was very handy. If I was to play well in Dubai and win there, then whatever cheque I make tomorrow could be very valuable. Everything’s to play for and every shot counts at this stage of the season.’
Harrington began the day nine shots off the lead but raced to the turn in 29 and shrugged off a bogey on the parfive 15th to sign for a 64.
‘I did say to my caddie at one stage that Nicolas was 16 (under par) and every time we looked up he was going further forward,’ the three-time major winner said. ‘I said, “It would be a great tournament if Nicolas wasn’t in it” and thankfully he’s decided to come back to the field.’
Paul Dunne is just five off the lead after a 67 yesterday.