IT was a tough day for the Irish contingent on the DP World Tour as of the quartet who made the cut, only Niall Kearney went under-par in round three of the Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club.
The Royal Dublin man battled back from a disastrous start that saw him bogey his opening three holes before righting the ship with an eagle at the fourth and going on to roll in four more birdies and one more bogey for a two-under 69.
That moved him up to three-under for the week and into a share of 39th, but sitting 11 shots behind Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, it is going to be a final day where Kearney simply tries to work himself up into the highest position he can.
The same applies to all three of Paul Dunne, Cormac Sharvin and Jonathan Caldwell, who all had their varying degrees of struggles on day three just outside Nairobi.
Greystones man Dunne at least wasn’t over-par, even if he wasn’t under-par, as four birdies, two bogeys and a double contributed to a level-par 71 that has him at the same total for the week, but things weren’t as good for the Northern Irish pair.
Caldwell had five birdies in his round but also added his fair share of mistakes as four bogeys and a double-bogey led to a one-over 72 that drops the Clandeboye ace down to one-over for the week, while Sharvin slumped to two double-bogeys and a quadruple-bogey nine on the par-five fourth on his way to a 78 that sees him share bottom spot of those who made the cut with Poland’s Adrian Meronk at seven-over.
At the other end of the leaderboard, Scotland’s Ferguson is in prime position to close out his first DP World Tour win as a tidy five-under 66 in his third round has him four shots clear heading into the final day.
The 25-year-old seized control with an early eagle at the par-five fourth in a round that included four birdies and a bogey, with his final shot gained at the 18th to make him the comfortable favourite to lift the trophy.
Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult shot the joint-best round of the day as an eagle on the 18th saw him record a seven-under 65 that has him in a tie for second alongside China’s Ashun Wu at 10-under, with former Amateur champion Matti Schmid matching Kinhult’s 65 to sit in a share of fourth alongside David Horsey, Jorge Campillo and Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez at nine-under.
It was a horror day for overnight leader Shubhankar Sharma, though, the Indian starting the day one shot clear but collapsing on his back nine as two bogeys and a double resulted in a four-over 75 that dropped him outside the top-10 to six-under.
- Full Scores HERE
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