When I teed off in the final pairing in match at 1.10 pm today with Spain’s Jorge Campillo, Antoine Rozner (France) had already caught me and Dale Whitnell (England) had overtaken me with rounds of 65 and on the course at seven-under, respectively. There was hence no time for complacency and I knew from the start that attack was my only plan.
The $6 million Horizon Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate, Ireland, is one of the DP World Tour’s top events, and in these surroundings with so much history and tradition, I shot a third round 68 to go with my 67’s in my first and second rounds. I am now in the sole lead on 14 under par with just 18 holes to go.
The cut last night fell at two-under par with 78 players qualifying for the final two rounds. That is a lot of players to play over the weekend.
It was obvious that low-scoring was the order of the day but we had pretty heavy rain early on, which lasted for our first three holes and from then on it was a beautiful sunny afternoon with hardly any breeze and perfect for golf and for scoring.
Preferred lies were still in operation on the fairways today and after a bogey on hole two, I managed four birdies on holes 3, 5, 8 and 13, with a bogey six in the mix on hole 10, that slowed me down somewhat, and another bogey on hole 14.
Over the last four holes, I went birdie – birdie – birdie and a par on the last, the toughest hole of the day. Seven birdies and three bogeys was the story of my scorecard.
I am excited with what I have achieved so far and will rest well tonight, hopefully, and look forward to playing well again tomorrow.
I have been in contention before, and let’s hope it can be my day.
On another note, it is good to see that the DP World Tour and the R&A collaborating, with there being three spots available this week for the 150th Open at St Andrews in 10 days’ time, to the leading players in the top 10 or ties, who are not already exempt.
I am already in the field for The 150th Open, thanks to my top three finish in the Dutch Open at the end of May.
That is all ahead of me, for now let’s focus on a very big day in tomorrow’s final round.
- Adrian Meronk is a 29-year-old Dubai resident, born in Germany with Polish nationality and plays on the DP World Tour.
