Niall Kearney struggled in his third round in Tarragona, Spain as he slid down the leaderboard at the ISPS HANDA Championship on a day where the weather was the dominant factor.
The majority of the field did not complete their third rounds as three separate delays due to the threat of electrical activity in the area – the third of which forced an early stoppage to play – left players sitting in the clubhouse for four-and-a-half hours of the day.
It means leader Scott Jamieson has only played five holes of his third round, which he will return early on Sunday morning to complete as tournament organisers optimistically try to complete the tournament in four days.
Royal Dublin man Kearney was one of the few who did manage to complete his third round and it was only down to a strong finish that he wasn’t left propping up the leaderboard on his own at the close of play.
Kearney, who made the cut on the number after round two, bogeyed three of his first four holes and then added another one at the 10th to drop to four-over for the day and to the bottom of the standings.
However, a birdie at the 11th finally got him moving in the right direction and that seemed to spark him into life. Further birdies at the 13th and 17th got him back to level-par for the tournament after a one-over 71 and, though he is still bottom, he is now tied with nine other players.
Meanwhile, Jamieson got through his five holes in level-par to stay 11-under-par but his lead is down to one shot after Canada’s Aaron Cockerill carded six birdies and an eagle in an eight-under 62.
Scotland’s Jamieson will obviously hope he can extend his advantage when he returns to complete his third round on Sunday morning with seven players, including Pablo Larrazabal and Johannes Veerman, two shots behind Cockerill at eight-under-par.
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