The rain appeared, a classic ingredient that was already missing at Royal Troon in Ayrshire, and with the cold and the changing wind as companions, the British Open took on epic overtones, practically a resistance to the inclement weather. So the last major was fueled by emotion and shrank in such a way that there will be a heart-stopping final day, compressed to the limit, with up to nine contenders separated by three strokes with the possibility of opting for a jug of claret that already seemed to have an owner.
Jon Rahm
The Basque golfer loses the lead with a discreet card of 72 strokes (+1) and moves 6 strokes away from the American leader
In the rain of the penultimate round, Irishman Sean Lowry melted like a sugar cube, despite opening the course in sole command with -7, two strokes ahead of the English Daniel Brown and Justin Rose. However, the 2019 champion was not inspired, handed in five bogeys and a double bogey, and ended up distraught, with one of the worst cards of the day (+6). The Irishman finished 9th, three strokes behind, and saw his lead soon fly away due to the push of Brown and the American Billy Horschel, one of the names of the day with his four birdies in the first half of the course.
The lead of Lowry was thus shared throughout the afternoon by Horschel and Brown, who held their own. But the best thing for the bookmakers and the stoic public of Ayrshire was to see how more and more candidates were gathering behind them: the South African Thriston Lawrence and the Americans Sam Burns and Russell Henley, heroes of the day with -6 and -5, knocked on the door and were at -3 for the last Sunday round. They tied with Xander Schauffele and Justin Rose, who also lost ground and gave up third position to end the day with +2.
The lead was decided on the last hole, which Brown and Horschel reached in a close tie. The Englishman linked a birdie on the 16th with a bogey on the 17th, but his American rival failed on the 18th (bogey) and handed him the lead. However, on the 18th, the Englishman, who is making his debut in a major, could not withstand the pressure and made a double bogey that led him to lose the lead and give it back to Horschel by one stroke (-4). So up to 6 players are tied for 2nd place with -3.
For his part, Basque player Jon Rahm (72, +1) was unable to consolidate his good reaction from Friday on a day as grey as the Scottish sky. The player from Barrika made just one birdie (on hole 3) and two bogeys (on the 2nd and 12th), and missed out on the title fight. He therefore dropped from 13th to 16th with +2 over par, far behind the leaders.
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
