German Paul could put a spanner in Fox’s bid for treble
Yannik Paul shares the lead with Kiwi Ryan Fox going into today’s final round of the Mallorca Golf Open after carding three eagles and as many birdies in a sparkling 62 yesterday.
The German raised hopes of a 59 on a low-scoring day at Son Muntaner Golf Club after picking up nine shots in his first 11 holes, but closed with seven straight pars to sit alongside New Zealand’s Fox on 16-under-par.
Fox put himself in a strong position to become the first man to claim three victories of the 2022 season after posting a bogey-free 65.
The World No. 25 has been on superlative form this year, with wins at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in February and at last month’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, while he boasts two further runner-up finishes at the Horizon Irish Open and Dutch Open along with a third place finish at the BMW International Open.
A fourth career win today would see him overtake Matt Fitzpatrick in second place in the DP World Tour Rankings and move him closer to leader Rory McIlroy, as Fox attempts to become the first New Zealander to win the Rankings in the Tour’s 50-year history.
“I always look at the leaderboard, I know every shot my playing partners have hit, and I just notice all of that stuff,” said Fox.
“I’ll be doing that tomorrow and it hasn’t affected me too much throughout my career or this year so I won’t be doing anything different in that regard.
“Obviously I’d like to get closer to Rory and give him a bit of a run, but it would be nice going into Dubai knowing I hold it in my own hands – if I win that event I could probably win the Rankings.
“I’ll treat this one and Nedbank with trying to get as close as possible to Rory because I don’t think he’s playing Nedbank, and make it more interesting.
“Regardless I’m pretty happy to be where I am and tomorrow I’ll just go out and do what I’ve done all year, try and beat the golf course and see what happens.”
Englishmen Dale Whitnell and Marcus Armitage were two shots behind the co-leaders in a tie for third, with countryman Richard Mansell one further back after his course-record 61 which featured eight birdies on the back nine.
Paul admitted thoughts of a 59 did enter his head: “It was obviously really good. I had three eagles today, that’s obviously a special day,” he said.
“Once I made the eagle on the 11th, I was nine under through 11 and thought ‘maybe I could shoot 59 today’.
“Then I played well, but just the putts didn’t drop. But overall I’m obviously really happy with my round.”
Scotland’s Connor Syme is in a tie for ninth on 11-under-par after
firing a 63 yesterday, his fellow Scots Marc Warren Esen ferguson and Richie Ramsay are on nineunder in a tie for 16th.