Golf to football: Scottish Open leader Matt Fitzpatrick plans Euro 2020 final dash after final round
Rahm lurks but English leader hopes to follow win in Scotland with England Wembley party
English golfer Matt Fitzpatrick plans a late dash to Wembley to watch his country’s Euro 2020 final against Italy on Sunday after potentially winning Scottish Open. Fitzpatrick — a student of Dubai’s No. 1 coach Peter Cowen — completed Saturday’s third round in 67 to earn a share the lead with Belgium’s Thomas Detry on 14 under par.
US Open champion and world No. 1 Jon Rahm is poised a shot behind heading into Sunday’s last round. Australia’s Lucas Herbert, who won the Irish Open last week, was just two shots off the pace. Lee Westwood fell four strokes back after two double bogeys in the space of three holes.
- Scottish Open: Spectator ejected for grabbing Rory McIlory’s club
- Scottish Open: No. 1 Jon Rahm rises to the top at the Renaissance Club
- Scottish Open: Peter Cowen’s Fitzpatrick in pole position for seventh European Tour win with Detry and Rahm lurking
- Scottish Open: Good, bad and ugly from my boys - Peter Cowen
Fitzpatrick had joked on Friday he did not want to play well in order to get an early tee time on Sunday, allowing him to make the 8pm (local time) kick-off at Wembley.
And, with a potential Scottish Open triumph in his sights, he still had England’s challenge for a first major football title in 55 years on his mind on Saturday.
“I’m going regardless. I’m just going to try. Even if just for the second half, I’ll get in,” he said. “My mates will be there. My brother and three of my pals and I’ll just join up with them. I’m going to go on a plane, then a car and it’ll drop me off.
“It’s quite funny because once it happened on Wednesday (the semi-final win over Denmark), I was just telling the lads ‘I have to try and go.’ I don’t care how, I’ll just get there and, hopefully, the tee-times work out.”
Rahm shared the halfway lead with Detry and Jack Senior, but three-putted the first and third to fall four shots off the pace before recovering superbly with five birdies in the space of eight holes.