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8 OCTOBER, 2022 - DP WORLD TOUR: Jon Rahm remains on course to rewrite a chapter of the history books after firing a flawless, six-under 65 to lead the 2022 acciona Open de España by a shot at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
World Number Six Rahm, who won this event in 2018 and 2019, is trying to match the late great Seve Ballesteros by winning his national open for the third time and heads into the final round on 16 under, with the narrowest of advantages over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
The 2021 U.S. Open Champion was two shots behind overnight leaders Stephen Gallacher and Paul Waring at the start of his round and the Spaniard birdied the fourth and picked up another shot at the seventh, despite leaving an awkward up-and-down after missing the green to the left of the par-five.
The 27-year-old made further gains on the back nine with four more birdies to his name, while his playing partner Lee shot 66 and will play with the Spaniard for the fourth time this week heading into the final round tomorrow.
The Australian, a two-time DP World Tour winner, sunk a clutch birdie putt at the last to stay one back and set up Sunday's showdown.
World Number Six Rahm, who won this event in 2018 and 2019, is trying to match the late great Seve Ballesteros by winning his national open for the third time and heads into the final round on 16 under, with the narrowest of advantages over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
The 2021 U.S. Open Champion was two shots behind overnight leaders Stephen Gallacher and Paul Waring at the start of his round and the Spaniard birdied the fourth and picked up another shot at the seventh, despite leaving an awkward up-and-down after missing the green to the left of the par-five.
The 27-year-old made further gains on the back nine with four more birdies to his name, while his playing partner Lee shot 66 and will play with the Spaniard for the fourth time this week heading into the final round tomorrow.
The Australian, a two-time DP World Tour winner, sunk a clutch birdie putt at the last to stay one back and set up Sunday's showdown.
“I’m feeling good. I’d say I wish most of my rounds could be as organised as this one right now" SAID RAHM. "I don’t feel like I did anything special, maybe the up-and-down on 17, but I just played consistent golf, put the ball in play, and the few times I missed the tee shot I was never really out of it."
“I had a shot to the green and I was able to pull it off every time, so only one stressful part on 17 and besides that, there were a lot of good birdie looks and par putts in that. Like I said, hopefully I can play another round like that tomorrow because I felt like I kept going shot by shot and I was six under."
“It’s been great, we have played really good golf both of us. He (Min Woo Lee) had that bad start on the front nine on Thursday and has played amazing since then, I had the bad start on my front nine on Friday, and everything else has been great golf. It is easy to feed off each other right, you know every time one of us is in the fairway we are going to have a birdie look, so you know birdies are coming. We have both been getting up-and-down from a lot of spots, he has had two hole outs, I’ve had one, and some really good shots besides those that we holed out."
“Well hopefully my best round can be tomorrow. Let’s hope for that and have an enjoyable walk down 18. That would be a perfect day.”
Gallacher, Louis De Jager, Marc Warren, Eddie Pepperell, Matthieu Pavon and Kiradech Aphibarnrat are three off the lead on 13 under while Edoardo Molinari, who matched the low round of the week with his 63, is a shot further back with Zander Lombard.
“I had a shot to the green and I was able to pull it off every time, so only one stressful part on 17 and besides that, there were a lot of good birdie looks and par putts in that. Like I said, hopefully I can play another round like that tomorrow because I felt like I kept going shot by shot and I was six under."
“It’s been great, we have played really good golf both of us. He (Min Woo Lee) had that bad start on the front nine on Thursday and has played amazing since then, I had the bad start on my front nine on Friday, and everything else has been great golf. It is easy to feed off each other right, you know every time one of us is in the fairway we are going to have a birdie look, so you know birdies are coming. We have both been getting up-and-down from a lot of spots, he has had two hole outs, I’ve had one, and some really good shots besides those that we holed out."
“Well hopefully my best round can be tomorrow. Let’s hope for that and have an enjoyable walk down 18. That would be a perfect day.”
Gallacher, Louis De Jager, Marc Warren, Eddie Pepperell, Matthieu Pavon and Kiradech Aphibarnrat are three off the lead on 13 under while Edoardo Molinari, who matched the low round of the week with his 63, is a shot further back with Zander Lombard.
