Aaron leaves them all trailing in his wake as he targets first Euro win
Aaron
Rai takes a sixshot lead into today’s final round of the Hong Kong Open after extending his advantage yesterday.
The Englishman is closing in on his first European Tour title after following up Friday’s course-record 61 with a 68 to open up a gap between himself and compatriots Tommy Fleetwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick on 10-under-par.
However, it was not all plain sailing for Rai, who started day three with a four-shot lead, but saw it cut to just one shot at the turn after South Korean Hyowon Park made a fast start.
A string of bogeys saw Park’s challenge fade, though, and Rai upped his game on the back nine before finishing with a bogey.
The 23-year-old Rai, a native of Wolverhampton, said: “I certainly didn’t play bad. Maybe didn’t quite play as well as the first couple of days, but you always have those days during a four-round tournament. To be able to kind of get through it, stay patient, was a nice thing and to finish it twounder is a good score today.
“There are always new experiences in a round of 18 holes, so I’m sure today will be a new experience in that sense.
“But there is also a lot that you can take from things that have happened in the past and the way you’ve dealt with things, which hopefully puts you in a good position. But again, it’s still another 18 holes, so we’ll see.”
Fleetwood commented: “I did a lot of good stuff, and some not so good. Not an exceptional round, but another good, solid round on a tricky course.
“As soon as you miss the fairway by one or two yards, it just becomes so difficult, and that’s why it’s so hard to attack the course and so hard to attack pins when they put them away.
“It’s a real test of patience, especially when I’ve not really looked at leaderboards, but know someone is a long way in front.”
Former Masters Champion Sergio Garcia went round in 64, which included a brilliant eagle at the par-four 10th hole, and the Spaniard is tied for fourth place alongside Jason Scrivener on nine-under-par.
Garcia said: “I got off to a great start with three birdies in a row on two, three and four.
“I also had a couple good chances on one and five that almost went in, but made a little bit of a soft bogey on the next. But you know, played solid and gave myself a lot of chances.”
Scotland’s David Drysdale and Robert McIntyre are in a tie for 12th, 10 shots back from Rai. Grant Forrest is on two-under, while Liam Johnston sits on two-over-par, a shot ahead of David Law.
Meanwhile, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry extended their lead ahead of the final round of the World Cup of Golf, shooting an impressive 63 in the fourballs.
The Belgian pair sit 19-under par at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne with an almost flawless round, including an eagle on the par-five ninth.
They are five shots ahead of Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Roberto Diaz, who climbed five places to tie for second with a round of 65.
They sit alongside Italian pair Andrea Pavan and Renato Paratore and South Korea’s An Byeong-hun and Kim Si-woo on 14-under par.
Three countries sit tied for fifth on 13-under – Alexander Bjork and Joakim Lagergren of Sweden, Australian pair Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman and England duo Tyrrell Hatton and Ian Poulter.
Reigning champions Denmark, represented by Thorbjorn Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen, are tied for 11th on 10-under, a shot behind Scotland’s Russell Knox and Martin Laird and Irish pair Shane Lowry and Paul Dunne. It took the addition of floodlights and a makeshift 93-yard hole, but Phil Mickelson (below) finally beat Tiger Woods in near-darkness to win their $9 million showdown in Las Vegas.
Mickelson birdied the fourth extra hole at Shadow Creek to win a low-quality contest which failed to live up to the hype and was eventually decided by little more than a pitch-and-putt competition.
Lefty was one-up and looked set to have a putt for the match on the 17th after Woods missed the green with his tee shot.
However, Woods chipped in for an unlikely birdie and Mickelson could not match it, meaning the match was all square heading to the 18th.
“You’ve been doing that to me for 20 years, I don’t know why I’m surprised now,” Mickelson told Woods, who then surprisingly conceded Mickelson’s putt from three feet to keep the match alive on 18, having already made his own birdie on the par-5.
The players returned to the 18th for the first play-off hole and Woods missed from seven feet for a winning birdie, meaning the makeshift hole from the putting green to the 18th was required.
Mickelson missed from 20 feet for a winning birdie on the first playing of the 93-yard hole and from five feet the second time, but made no mistake from three feet at the third time of asking.