Tom McKibbin’s chances of claiming a second Asian Tour victory in a month appear to be over after a two-under 69 saw him fall eight shots behind the leaders going into the final round of the PIF Saudi International.
Rounds of 68 and 67 left the 22-year-old trailing by six but inside the top 20 at the halfway mark, but two bogeys with no birdies on the opening nine holes of Friday’s third round effectively ended his chances of following up his Hong Kong Open victory with another in the season-ending event on the Asian Tour.
He responded with four birdies on the back nine to card a two-under 69, but slipped down into a share of 21st place at -9.
Graeme McDowell, who began the day a shot behind his fellow Northern Irishman, began his third round with a birdie but couldn’t find another until the 16th, bogeying the third and 14th in between, but closed out the round with a birdie on 18 to move to 17 and into a tie for 30th.
McKibbin’s Legion XIII teammate, Caleb Surratt, kept the lead for the third day in a row – giving himself a great opportunity to make up for losing here in a play-off last year.
He shot a three-under-par 68 to finish on 17-under in a tie with South African Dean Burmester, who carded a 64.
Josele Ballester from Spain is in third place, one stroke behind, after a 66.
Englishman Richard Bland (64), Adrian Meronk (68) from Poland, and American Anthony Kim (69) are next best placed, three back.
The US$5million event is the most lucrative of the season on the Asian Tour and the final event of the year on The International Series.
Surratt was beaten by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off 12 months ago, which also featured Australian Cam Smith. He could have won it in regulation play but made bogey on the last after finding water off the tee.
He will look to banish that memory tomorrow and secure his first title in the professional game.
“Yeah, it was good,” said the 21-year-old, who plays for Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team on the LIV Golf League.
“You’re not going to have your best stuff all the time. I came out of the gates, I really didn’t hit many bad shots early. I hit a few, but not starting off my best. I was very proud of the fight the rest of the day.
“I think it would have been real easy to continue to bleed and shoot two or three over today, take myself out of the golf tournament, but didn’t do that. I’m very proud of that.”
He made bogeys on the first and fourth, before getting back on track with a birdie on the ninth. Four birdies on the back nine restored his confidence and lead.
When asked if he sees tomorrow as a chance to redeem himself after last year, he said: “Yeah, definitely. It would be nice to get some redemption, but regardless, I’ve done really well to put myself in the position I am in. I fought really hard and worked really hard to get to that. Almost no matter what happens, it feels like I could leave now because this week has already been a win with so many positives.”
Burmester shot 63 yesterday and impressively nearly matched that today. He was bogey-free and carded seven birdies, including on the last two.
He is one the biggest hitters here and reached the par-four 18th, which measures 396 yards, from the tee.
He said: “Yeah, I hit one yesterday. That’s kind of how I knew I could get there and make sure I was comfortable being able to roll into that left pin. You kind of want to keep it up to the middle of the green. I went from there and hit it pretty hard, probably as hard as I’ve ever hit a tee shot.”
He finished second in a long driving competition in South Africa a week ago and the experience has put him in a good stead this week.
“I learned a few things from the long drive champion in South Africa,” he explained.
“So, it was quite cool to kind of put that to good use. It’s more about like hip mobility and rotation and how he creates his speed without feeling like you have to hit it that hard. It was quite interesting to see the dynamic and the way that they do it. I’m sure Bryson [DeChambeau] knows all about this stuff because he did it. For me to learn something like that was cool.”
Like Surrat, Burmester competes on the LIV Golf League. He plays for Stingers GC, the South African-dominated side, and won LIV Golf Chicago in August for his second win on the hugely popular franchise.
The International Series Rankings will be decided tomorrow, with the leading two players securing places on next year’s LIV Golf League.
Rankings leader Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe put himself in a strong position to finish the year on top after returning his third 67.
He is in a tie for seventh, five shots behind the leaders.
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