I shot a third round two over par 72 to be level par after three rounds of the $5 million PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers on the Asian Tour.
I opened up with three pars and then made an eagle three on the par five fourth hole playing at 569 yards. It was a driver and three wood to 25 feet and a single putt.
A bogey on hole nine saw me out in one under 34.
On the back nine I slipped with three birdies in a row from the 11th tee and made a birdie on hole 14, bogeyed the signature par three 16th, having birdied it in my opening two rounds and finished with two pars.
Overall, my ball striking was poor today.
I only hit nine greens in regulation, which is just not good enough at this level.
Good conditions
The conditions for the day were perhaps the easiest of the week so far, which makes my score even more disappointing.
I am off to the range this afternoon to work on a few things and then, hopefully, I will be ready to go low tomorrow (Sunday).
My playing partners today were Andy Ogletree (US), who I played a practice round with earlier in the week and Cameron Tringale (US), who I met today for the first time – I really enjoyed the pairing and they are both genuinely top quality players. They shot 68 and 69 respectively in the third round.
It is interesting to see the recent announcement by the Asian Tour that, for the first time in its history, the Order of Merit will be points based, rather than calculated on accumulated prize money.
The justification is that this will encourage and reward those who are more consistent, rather than those who have streaks of form, trying to factor in the anomalies of the different prizefund level tournaments.
As with most changes in systems, especially golf, it needs time to see how it all works or not. We will watch it with interest. It will be fairly subjective, with some players benefiting and some maybe suffering. The Order of Merit is important to us all as it decides qualification and eligibility for events, both in Asia and globally.
I currently lie in tied 55th and speak to you all tomorrow (Sunday) after my final round in Saudi.
- Shiv Kapur is a Dubai resident and has won three times on the Asian Tour.
