Blues for Pieters
Late double bogey proves costly for Belgian in Dunhill Links
Thomas Pieters, the leading scorer at last week’s Ryder Cup with four points from five matches, came unstuck at his penultimate hole in the Dunhill Links Championship second round.
The long-hitting Belgian worked his way into a good position near the top of the leaderboard before a double-bogey six at the 17th meant he had to settle for a four-under 68 and a total of 138, five strokes behind leader Ross Fisher of England (68).
“It’s a shame to finish with a double because I was going along nicely and making a few putts,” Ryder Cup rookie Pieters told reporters on Friday at Kingsbarns, one of three courses being used at the pro-am event in Scotland.
“You can’t drive it in the fairway bunkers here, you just can’t. I’ll have to avoid those tomorrow at St Andrews as well.” Former Ryder Cup player Fisher was one stroke ahead of Swede Joakim Lagergren (68).
Overnight leader Alex Noren (71), also from Sweden, was in third spot on 135, one in front of South African Jbe Kruger (68).
In NATADOLA ( Fiji): Brandt Snedeker took a three-stroke lead in the wind-swept Fiji International, shooting a two-under 70 in difficult conditions in the third round at Natadola Bay.
Coming off the United States’ Ryder Cup victory on Sunday in Minnesota, Snedeker had three birdies and a bogey to reach 12-under 204 on the Vijay Singhdesigned layout yesterday. He opened with a 69 and shot a 65 on Friday.
“It was a tough day. I did a great job of hanging in there,” Snedeker said.
“I hit the ball really well off the tee with one exception and put the ball where I needed to all day. I hit a bunch of great putts that didn’t want to go in today for whatever reason.
Australia’s Anthony Houston was second after a 73, and countryman Matthew Giles, the second-round leader, was 8-under after a 75. New Zealand’s Gary Paddison followed his course-record 64 with a 69 to join Australia’s Michael Hendry (68) at 7-under.
Snedeker parred the first eight holes, birdied the par-four ninth and added another on the par-four 14th. He dropped a stroke on the par-four 16th – ending his bogeyfree streak at 49 holes – and rebounded with an up-and-down birdie on the short par-five 17th.
“Starting the day out, if you’d have told me I’d shoot a couple under I probably would have taken it tough as the conditions are and as many big numbers are out there. I’ve given myself a chance and going into tomorrow I need to finish it off.
“A three-shot lead in wind like this is one hole, so I need to go out there and play a solid round of golf like I did today.
Ranked 23rd in the world, the 35-year-old Snedeker won at Torrey Pines in February for his eighth PGA Tour title. He’s trying to win his first international title in the event sanctioned by European, Australasian and Asian tours.
“We’ll see what the weather looks like,” Snedeker said about the final round.
“Hopefully, we get a good day forecast, go out there and make some birdies and shoot something low.”
Vijay was tied for 36th at 1-over after a 72. The 53-year-old Fijian is a three-time Major champion.
Boo Weekley was even par after a 75, and fellow American Heath Slocum was 2-over, also after a 75. — Agencies