Kearney shot even on Thursday and did enough to stay below the cut on Friday and ensure himself two more rounds of golf.

He proved that he is deservedly the highest-ranked Irish golfer competing this weekend.

The two-time Irish PGA Championship winner is far from the lead at the Cazoo Open but has given himself a chance to lower his scores and end the weekend on a positive note.

The 71-par course claimed many casualties at the end of Round 2 on Friday.

The latest leg of the European tour has proved tough for Irish golfers with the three other Irish competitors and a Nothern Irish golfer all failing to make the cut in the tournament backed by Gareth Bale.

Gavin Moynihan endured a torrid second round to send himself home after a poor two rounds.

Moynihan shot three-over-par to add to his woes from Round 1 which saw him in need of a much-improved Friday to get to the next two rounds, but that was not to be as he posted a worse round to miss the cut by two strokes.

Amateur golfer James Sugrue’s two rounds followed a similar pattern to that of Moynihan’s with the pair both finishing Round 1 with a score of 73.

Sugrue could not salvage his weekend and plummeted further down the leaderboard with a 75-score round sealing the Mallow native’s fate with a final score of six-over.

Northern Ireland’s Cormac Sharvin also had a troublesome four-over-par round (For Sharvin it was Round 1) but posted a slight, if ineffective improvement in Round 2, ending his time in Newport with a round of 74.

Paul Dunne, who is currently 70th in the 2021 European Tour rankings had the worst weekend out of all Irish and Northern Irish golfers.

Dunne made it five missed cuts in a row after a six-over-par round two saw his hopes for extra rounds of golf go up in flames.

The poor performances are disappointing for fans from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland but, with Kearney still playing, there will be hopes for a good weekend from the Dubliner.

Niall Kearney will tee-off on Saturday at 6:16 am on Tee 11, accompanied by Bryce Easton and Steven Brown.

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Herbert, who has led since Thursday, holds a one-stroke lead. He bids to become just the third Australian winner in the event’s 94-year history, and the first wire-to-wire winner since 2014.

The 25-year-old had his maiden European Tour victory at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic last year. He now stands on the brink of winning one of the Europe’s most historic national opens. He would join Ossie Pickworth (1950) and Brett Rumford (2004) as Australian winners of the prestigious title.

Herbert opened up a three-stroke advantage at one stage on Saturday. In his opening ten holes he achieved four birdies without a single dropped shot.

The Victoria player struggled to adjust to the swirling winds in the late afternoon. Bogeys on the 11^th and 14^th holes pulled him back to the field. He eventually signed for a 70, for a 15 under par total.

Herbert’s reaction

“I played okay,” admitted Herbert. “In one aspect, it’s kind of frustrating. I could have really put a good one away and felt like I got too far away from the majority of the field, but 15 probably has just left the door open a touch.”

Looking ahead to round 4 on Sunday, the Australian said:

“So tomorrow is a massive chance, and obviously I think in time to come I’ll probably look back on it and realise it more, but at the moment, I’m trying to stay pretty focused on the moment and really feel like I just play my game and let that sort of take care of itself.”

American Johannes Veerman is only a shot behind after shooting a 67. South African Justin Harding is two shots further back on 12 under after a 65 today.

Former Ryder Cup players Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Pieters lie six shots off the pace in a share of 12^th position.

Cormac Sharvin is leading Irishman

Ardglass golfer Cormac Sharvin is the leading Irish player. He carded a 69 for a seven under total. He lies two shots ahead of Graeme McDowell on five under while Rory McIlroy carded a one over par 73 for a four under total.

Third Round Scores

201 L HERBERT (AUS) 64 67 70,
202 J VEERMAN (USA) 65 70 67,
204 J HARDING (RSA) 69 70 65,
205 R KARLBERG (SWE) 71 67 67, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 69 68, D WHITNELL (ENG) 67 67 71,
206 A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 70 69, R RAMSAY (SCO) 67 69 70, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 67 69 70, G FORREST (SCO) 66 67 73, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 67 66 73,
207 A RAI (ENG) 69 71 67, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 69 68, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 67 72 68, S CROCKER (USA) 67 70 70, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 68 71, R BLAND (ENG) 69 66 72,
208 J MORRISON (ENG) 70 68 70, S BROWN (ENG) 68 69 71, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 66 73,
209 M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72 68, C SHARVIN  73 67 69, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 69 71 69, G BHULLAR (IND) 71 68 70, C PAISLEY (ENG) 68 71 70, W BESSELING (NED) 69 69 71, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 68 71, J CATLIN (USA) 69 68 72, M LEE (AUS) 68 68 73, C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA) 67 68 74,
210 K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68 72 70, T KANAYA (JPN) 71 68 71, M KAYMER (GER) 67 70 73, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 68 74,
211 M WARREN (SCO) 71 70 70, G MCDOWELL 74 67 70, D FICHARDT (RSA) 73 68 70, C SYME (SCO) 69 71 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 72 68 71, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 68 72 71, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 68 71, D LAW (SCO) 73 66 72, M JORDAN (ENG) 69 69 73, J SMITH (ENG) 69 69 73, D HOWELL (ENG) 71 67 73, A COCKERILL (CAN) 68 70 73, A ARNAUS (ESP) 67 69 75,
212 T TREE (ENG) 72 69 71, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 69 72 71, J WALTERS (RSA) 69 71 72, S KIM (USA) 72 68 72, B HEBERT (FRA) 70 69 73, R MCILROY 72 67 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 67 74, G HAVRET (FRA) 67 69 76, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 68 76,
213 S SHARMA (IND) 74 67 72, D COUPLAND (ENG) 73 68 72, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 73, S LOWRY 70 69 74,
214 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 70 71 73, V NORRMAN (SWE) 68 72 74, O FARR (WAL) 72 66 76, A BJORK (SWE) 72 66 76,
215 G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 70 75,
216 A LEVY (FRA) 68 73 75,
218 S JAMIESON (SCO) 68 73 77,
223 K KITAYAMA (USA) 69 72 82, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 70 83,

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The 25-year-old, a winner of the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic, holds a one shot advantage over American Johannes Veerman. Scotland’s Grant Forrest is a single shot further back.

“It was a bit of a slow start, admitted Herbert. “Even sort of the first eight holes, I birdied 15, made a nice putt and then 17, hit it in there pretty tight for eagle and missed it. Even the first eight holes felt a little bit slow out there. (I was) only hitting the two-ball with Laurie. We just both felt like we are hitting it quite nice and couldn’t make any putts.

“I made a really long one on 18 for birdie and that kind of sparked things and got things going. Was able to play really nice that last nine holes. Felt like I was trying to get to 5- or 6-under and I didn’t really want to try and just attack really, really hard.”

Herbert, who achieved a 14^th place finish in last season’s Race to Dubai Rankings, carded an eight under par opening round at the sun-baked Kilkenny venue. Veerman in second achieved a bogey-free seven under 65 late in the day while Scot Grant Forrest signed for a six under par round of 66.

Ryder Cup starts high on the leaderboard

2012 European Ryder Cup players Martin Kaymer and Nicolas Colsaerts are next on the leaderboard, alongside fellow former Ryder Cup players Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjørn Olesen and Andy Sullivan.They share fourth spot, on five under par, with a further nine players.

German Martin Kaymer was happy with his solid opening round, stating:

“I had a really solid start with five-under after ten holes and missed my tee shot on two. Still a bogey, which was fine. Then I struggled a little bit on the back nine, so the front nine of the golf course. Had a couple good chances coming in. Unfortunately missed a four-footer on the last for six-under would have been a really good score today. Five-under is fine, and I’m playing good golf.”

Colm Moriarty, a former Challenge Tour winner back in 2007, was the best of the Irish players on the opening day as he carded a four under par round. Reigning Open Champion Shane Lowry carded a two under par 70 and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy opened his account with a 72.

Round One Scores:

64 L HERBERT (AUS),
65 J VEERMAN (USA),
66 G FORREST (SCO),
67 J SCRIVENER (AUS), C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA), T FLEETWOOD (ENG), D WHITNELL (ENG), S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP), A JOHNSTON (ENG), R RAMSAY (SCO), M KAYMER (GER), T DETRY (BEL), A SULLIVAN (ENG), N COLSAERTS (BEL), T OLESEN (DEN), A ARNAUS (ESP), G HAVRET (FRA), S CROCKER (USA),
68 V NORRMAN (SWE), A COCKERILL (CAN), M ARMITAGE (ENG), M LEE (AUS), S BROWN (ENG), J GUERRIER (FRA), C PAISLEY (ENG), R ROCK (ENG), K SAMOOJA (FIN), C MORIARTY (IRL), K APHIBARNRAT (THA), S JAMIESON (SCO), M KINHULT (SWE), A LEVY (FRA), A ROZNER (FRA), M KAWAMURA (JPN), F ZANOTTI (PAR), F LAPORTA (ITA),
69 J CATLIN (USA), R BLAND (ENG), P LARRAZABAL (ESP), J WALTERS (RSA), E MOLINARI (ITA), J DONALDSON (WAL), K KITAYAMA (USA), Z LOMBARD (RSA), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), A RAI (ENG), J HARDING (RSA), J HANSEN (DEN), A OTAEGUI (ESP), J SMITH (ENG), W BESSELING (NED), R MCEVOY (ENG), M JORDAN (ENG), C SYME (SCO), M KORHONEN (FIN), T PULKKANEN (FIN).

Irish Scores

70 S LOWRY
71 N KEARNEY
72 R MCILROY, P DUNNE
73 R LESTER, M POWER (AM), C SHARVIN
74 G MCDOWELL
75 G MOYNIHAN
76 J CALDWELL, P HARRINGTON
77 S THORNTON
78 C RAFFERTY (AM), N O’BRIAIN
82 R DAWSON

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Ardglass-native Cormac Sharvin, who was the leading Irishman at last year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch, Co. Clare, is delighted to be back playing in Ireland.

“It’s an opportunity to play on home turf” admitted Sharvin, “I haven’t played great in the last while. I had a good week off last week, reflecting and trying to get back to things that worked for me last year. I’m trying to get back into that trying to tidy up my swing. My game is in the best place it has been all year coming into this week, whether I play well or not is a different story. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction with my game, hopefully I can put four good rounds together this week.”

Discussing the Galgorm course, the Ulsterman, who was 19^th at The English Championship in early August, said:

“I know this course really well. I’ve played a lot of golf here. It’s a good test, the rough is thick. My game is pretty suited to a course like this, you have to drive it well. Tee to green it’s a good test so it should set up pretty well.”

The twenty-eight-year-old has struggled with the bubble professional golfers have found themselves in recent weeks, since the re-starting of competition:

“From the outset I was saying I wasn’t struggling and that I didn’t mind it. But on reflection it’s something I have struggled with. I find it hard separating my golf from chilling at the hotel. I feel like I’ve been uneasy with the whole thing, but I’ve done work on it to try and reframe it and get myself in a good place going into weeks rather than feeling like I’m pushing. It felt like I was rushing my weeks and wasn’t relaxed – I couldn’t wait to get out the bubble. I’m going to have to adapt and get better at dealing with it. I met with my team last week and we’re reframing it in a way that is beneficial to me.”

Reflecting on the usual experience of having to play without crowds at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Sharvin says:

“It’s a good chance to do well this week. The big challenge is going to be playing without crowds. I’ve played here a lot, even at Challenge Tour events we get good crowds and I seem to get a decent following – I’ve fed off that. It’s something I’ll have to look at this week and I’ll have to gee myself up.”

Greystones golfer Paul Dunne fully agrees with Cormac Sharvin about the strange feeling surrounding this year’s competition:

“It feels a bit weird, it almost doesn’t feel like we’re at home. The Irish fans are usually so loud and they come out in big numbers. It’s different, but it’s nice to be driving my own car, staying relatively close to home, home comforts. Hopefully I can perform.

The Irishman feels he’s adapting well to the ‘new normal’ on the European Tour, stating:

“I’m adapting OK, it is what it is. The weeks are a little bit more mundane than they usually are, you can’t get out and about and do things and your dinner companions are the same every night. Look, it beats sitting at home being locked down, it’s a much better alternative.”

The twenty-seven-year-old spoke about the challenge of the Galgorm, Co. Antrim course, offering:

“The course is all about your tee shots, it’s pretty narrow off the tee. It doesn’t give you much respite. It’s all about keeping it – you would say between the tree line – but there’s decent room between the tree line, but the fairways are fairly narrow and the rough between the fairway and the trees is extremely thick. Especially when it’s wet, you can’t get much out of it at all.”

With the Dublin-born player experiencing problems with a hand injury of later, he states his current goals are “just to get back fit and get my game back in a shape where I feel like I can move forward.  I don’t have any short term goals because I don’t know what the future holds.”

Back on home soil this week should give Dunne an opportunity to fully access where his game is right now, and he is “just ready to go out and play and be able to practice as free as I can.”

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The Frenchman started the final day at The Celtic Manor Resort in a share of sixth, five shots behind 54-hole co-leaders Sebastian Soderberg and Connor Syme, but the deficit was cut to just one stroke after his second birdie of the day on the sixth hole.

The 2015 Amateur Champion remained just one shot back after another gain on the ninth, but drew level with a fourth birdie of the day on the par five 11th hole. Successive birdies at the 15th and 16th holes saw the 25-year-old sign for a bogey-free 65 and an eight under par total as a nervous wait followed.

Bogeys on the 14th and 16th holes dashed Syme’s hopes of a maiden European Tour victory and both he and Soderberg found the water at the par five 18th, which ultimately ended the Swede’s chances at the eleventh hour.

“As I said on the course I was playing really good since the start of the week,” conceded Langasque, “I was only focusing on doing my thing – that was the only objective I had on Monday with my coach. I’m so happy with the way I played the back nine, I played really, really good, I had so many birdie opportunities. The second shot on 16 and the first shot on 17 were my two best shots of the week. That shows that the work we have done the past few weeks has worked, and I’m pretty happy.”

The French golfer’s win elevated him to 31st in the 2020 Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, and also earned him a place in next month’s U.S. Open after he moved inside the top ten on the UK Swing Order of Merit.

It was a disappointing tournament for the Irish golfers who finished towards the rear of the field. Cormac Sharvin was best, as he finished on 289, which was 13 shots off the winner. Paul Dunne was a further three shots behind Sharvin, while Jonathan Caldwell carded a final day 76, to end the tournament on 293.

Final Scores:

276 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 71 68 72 65,
278 S VALIMAKI (FIN) 70 72 67 69,
279 D DIXON (ENG) 70 70 71 68, M JORDAN (ENG) 69 72 72 66,
280 S SODERBERG (SWE) 68 70 68 74, J MORRISON (ENG) 73 72 66 69, L CANTER (ENG) 71 69 72 68,
281 C SYME (SCO) 66 70 70 75, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 75 68 69 69, G GREEN (MAS) 73 71 68 69, C HILL (SCO) 73 71 68 69, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 70 74 69 68, H LI (CHN) 72 66 76 67, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 75 71 67,
282 T PIETERS (BEL) 69 72 69 72, M KINHULT (SWE) 69 71 72 70, R FOX (NZL) 70 74 68 70, L JOHNSTON (SCO) 70 68 75 69, S HEISELE (GER) 70 71 73 68, L DE JAGER (RSA) 70 74 70 68,
283 D BURMESTER (RSA) 72 71 68 72, C HOWIE (SCO) 74 69 69 71, M FENASSE (FRA) 72 70 72 69, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 75 70 69 69, C SORDET (FRA) 72 74 68 69, D HUIZING (NED) 70 73 72 68,
284 E MOLINARI (ITA) 72 70 68 74, M SIEM (GER) 70 74 67 73, B STONE (RSA) 70 72 70 72, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 73 70 69 72, J SMITH (ENG) 66 72 75 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 74 69 71 70, R PARATORE (ITA) 69 72 74 69, C PAISLEY (ENG) 72 74 69 69, D WHITNELL (ENG) 73 71 72 68, L SCALISE (ITA) 72 71 74 67,
285 R ROCK (ENG) 71 69 73 72, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 73 71 70 71, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 71 70 74 70, D LAW (SCO) 71 75 69 70, S CROCKER (USA) 74 71 71 69, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 74 70 73 68, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 72 74 71 68,
286 N ELVIRA (ESP) 71 67 74 74, J HARDING (RSA) 70 70 73 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 73 70 72, R RAMSAY (SCO) 73 72 70 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 75 71 69 71, A RAI (ENG) 70 71 75 70, A SADDIER (FRA) 71 71 75 69, J MCLEOD (AUS) 73 71 73 69, S HORSFIELD (ENG) 73 71 77 65,
287 Z LOMBARD (RSA) 77 69 68 73, O LENGDEN (SWE) 72 71 72 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 71 75 69 72, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 71 72 73 71, A COCKERILL (CAN) 73 71 72 71, W BESSELING (NED) 73 71 73 70,
288 D YOUNG (SCO) 73 72 70 73, K KITAYAMA (USA) 68 74 76 70, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 68 78 72 70, M BALDWIN (ENG) 74 72 73 69,
289 C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 71 69 76, J SENIOR (ENG) 73 71 71 74, R MCEVOY (ENG) 71 74 72 72, S TILEY (ENG) 71 73 74 71, S KIM (USA) 71 67 82 69,
290 A CHESTERS (ENG) 69 72 76 73, A MERONK (POL) 73 69 76 72, S VINCENT (ZIM) 75 71 73 71, L SLATTERY (ENG) 78 66 79 67,
291 N LEMKE (SWE) 73 72 70 76,
292 A KARLSSON (SWE) 77 69 70 76, P DUNNE (IRL) 74 72 73 73, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 69 73 80 70,
293 O FISHER (ENG) 71 73 71 78, J CALDWELL (NIR) 72 74 71 76.

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The 23-year-old started the final one shot behind Scotland’s Connor Syme, but shared the lead after the first hole as the young leader dropped a shot. The English golfer made consecutive birdies on the third and fourth holes and then birdied the seventh before a two-hour delay caused by the threat of lightning at Celtic Manor Resort in Wales which played like a pool table with the greens playing just perfect.

After the restart, he parred the next six holes before his fourth birdie of the day on 14^th, and he parred his way home to sign for a bogey-free 67 and an 18 under par total.

Commenting on his second win in three weeks, Horsfield admitted:

“It was pretty crazy. My goal this weekend was to have no bogeys and I was able to do that. I made a huge putt on 17 to keep that alive and I just played solid all week, really. To have a nice cushion coming into the last was nice.”

Similarly to the Hero Open at Forest of Arden, Belgium’s Thomas Detry finished as runner-up to Horsfield after also posting a four under par, bogey-free round.

The Belgian was satisfied with his performance after a long layoff from the sport, stating:

“We did an okay job this week. It’s nice to start after five months off with a top ten. We had a bit of a slip up yesterday but still, happy overall. My caddie said if I go two under through the last four then he’ll buy me dinner tonight, so I get free dinner.”

Sharing third place were 2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters, making his first start since the resumption of the 2020 Race to Dubai, Andrew Johnston of England and Syme, who stated, “My goal is to get in that top ten for the U.S. Open.”

Horsfield moves to the top of the UK Swing Order of Merit and has secured a place at the U.S. Open. He will be joined by the other top ten players on the UK Swing Rankings at Winged Foot at the conclusion of next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open.

The Englishman is also guaranteed a share of £250,000 as part of the European Tour’s Good for Golf initiative. The top ten on the rankings after the ISPS Handa UK Championship at The Belfry will share the money to donate to charities of their choice.

Cormac Sharvin beat his fellow Ulsterman to be leading Irish golfer in the Celtic Classic. The Ardglass golfer carded a final round of 73, which Jonathan Caldwell bettered by one stroke, but Sharvin completed the tournament on a four-round total of 276 to Caldwell’s 278.

Select Final Scores

266 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64 68 67,
268 T DETRY (BEL) 67 66 68 67,
269 C SYME (SCO) 68 67 63 71, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66 68 68, T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68 70 67,
270 A MERONK (POL) 66 71 64 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71 65 66, S VILIMIKI (FIN) 71 68 65 66, J CATLIN (USA) 68 68 69 65,
271 S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69 65 71,
272 C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65 69 70, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69 67 69, G GREEN (MAS) 70 69 70 63,
273 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69 69 70, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 65 70, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67 69 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70 66 68, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70 69 67, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69 67 67, S HEISELE (GER) 69 70 69 65, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 70 71 67 65,
274 S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69 66 70, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70 66 69, S CROCKER (USA) 68 66 73 67, J SMITH (ENG) 68 68 71 67, W NIENABER (RSA) 70 67 71 66,
275 M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70 67 71, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70 68 70, A BJORK (SWE) 71 70 66 68, R FISHER (ENG) 72 68 68 67,
276 C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67 65 73, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66 69 72, A RAI (ENG) 67 70 70 69, S BROWN (ENG) 67 72 68 69, D WHITNELL (ENG) 72 67 69 68, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 68 71 70 67, J DONALDSON (WAL) 70 70 70 66, R KARLBERG (SWE) 73 68 69 66,
277 M WARREN (SCO) 66 72 65 74, N ELVIRA (ESP) 66 69 72 70, C HILL (SCO) 70 68 70 69, J WALTERS (RSA) 70 69 69 69, S HEND (AUS) 75 65 68 69, T TREE (ENG) 65 75 69 68, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 68 69 68, O FARR (WAL) 73 67 69 68
278 S KIM (USA) 66 70 68 74, J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66 72 72, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68 65 72, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 71 66 71, M JORDAN (ENG) 68 66 74 70, E MOLINARI (ITA) 66 72 70 70, O LENGDEN (SWE) 69 69 70 70, J HARDING (RSA) 69 71 68 70, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 68 71 70 69, D BURMESTER (RSA) 71 68 71 68,
280 J SJOHOLM (SWE) 68 70 69 73, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 66 70 72 72, F LAPORTA (ITA) 69 69 70 72, R FOX (NZL) 69 71 68 72, D PERRIER (FRA) 70 69 71 70,
281 S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 70 68 73,
282 L DE JAGER (RSA) 71 68 69 74, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 70 72, S SHARMA (IND) 71 70 70 71,
283 T OLESEN (DEN) 71 70 69 73, J SURI (USA) 72 69 72 70, B RITTHAMMER (GER) 71 70 76 66,
284 G FORREST (SCO) 72 68 72 72,
285 R MCGOWAN (ENG) 70 70 71 74, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 70 71 70 74,
287 M LEE (AUS) 69 71 71 76,
288 B STOW (ENG) 68 72 73 75,
289 C PIGEM (ESP) 70 71 74 74

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Scotsman Syme started Saturday’s third round four strokes behind halfway leader Sam Horsfield from England, but quickly made a move with three birdies on the front nine. The 25-year-old carded five birdies on the back nine as he went on to sign for a 15 under par total, one stroke ahead of Horsfield.

“I just played lovely, to be honest,” admitted the Scot, “It’s obviously very nice conditions and I got off to a decent start. I maybe didn’t play the front nine as well as I’d like but I managed to get to three under through nine, which was great. I holed the putts that I had opportunities on so it was a nice base to build on. It was nice throughout, really.”

Recent Hero Open winner Horsfield, who is seeking s second title since the European Tour season resumed, parred the first eight holes before his first birdie of the day on the ninth. Two gains followed on the 14th and 16th holes as, like Syme, he returned a blemish-free card.

“I felt like I was actually playing really well” said Horsfield, “I hit a lot of greens and as I said walking up nine, I was just waiting for my putter to get hot. I made a few nice putts, didn’t take advantage of the easy holes on the back nine but I’m happy with the position I’m in.”

Sebastian Soderberg from Sweded carded a bogey-free six under par 65 to move up to third place on 13 under par, one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry of Belgium, England’s Andrew Johnston and Adrian Meronk of Poland.

2016 Ryder Cup player Thomas Pieters of Belgium and England’s Callum Shinkwin share seventh on 11 under.

Ardglass golfer Cormac Sharvin signed for a 65, his best round of the tournament so far, leaving him on a three-round total of 203, five shots behind the Scottish leader. Jonathan Caldwell, on the other hand, carded his worst round of the week with a 72, which sees him three strokes behind his fellow Ulsterman.

Select Round Three Scores

198 C SYME (SCO) 68 67 63,
199 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 67 64 68,
200 S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 69 65,
201 T DETRY (BEL) 67 66 68, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 66 68, A MERONK (POL) 66 71 64,
202 T PIETERS (BEL) 64 68 70, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 65 69,
203 J MCLEOD (AUS) 65 69 69, W BESSELING (NED) 67 69 67, M WARREN (SCO) 66 72 65, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 65, C SHARVIN (NIR) 71 67 65,
204 R ENOCH (WAL) 69 66 69, S KIM (USA) 66 70 68, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 70 67, S VINCENT (ZIM) 69 69 66, D HORSEY (ENG) 68 71 65, S VILIMIKI (FIN) 71 68 65,
205 J CATLIN (USA) 68 68 69, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 67 69, J MORRISON (ENG) 67 70 68, M KIEFFER (GER) 69 70 66, J SENIOR (ENG) 69 70 66,
206 J CALDWELL (NIR) 68 66 72, L GAGLI (ITA) 67 70 69, A COCKERILL (CAN) 70 69 67, A ARNAUS (ESP) 73 68 65.

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The 28-year-old, who hasn’t played since the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters last March, showed no sign of rust at the Celtic Manor resort with a seven under par round that included eight birdies and a single bogey.

“I putted well and kept my ball in play, so I didn’t really get myself in trouble”, admitted the first round leader, adding “It was tough pulling clubs sometimes and I put some new grips on which were very slippery, so I was struggling with that all day.”

The four-time European Tour winner, never looked back after dropping his only shot of the day on the second, coming home in 29 to move one shot clear of  England’s Toby Tree and Australian Jake McLeod.

Tree also dropped a single shot on the second hole in his six under par round of 65, while McLeod eagled the last to jump in to a share of second place.

The Englishman was satisfied with his opening round in Wales, however, admitting:

“I loved it. It’s a bit different to what we have played the last few weeks – a bit bigger, longer. It’s in great nick. It was a pleasure this morning, good weather, no wind.”

Italian Edoardo Molinari – who starred in Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup win at the Newport venue – is a shot further back on five under par, alongside his fellow countryman Guido Migliozzi, Swede Sebastian Soderberg, Nacho Elvira of Spain, American player Sihwan Kim, Scot Marc Warren and Adrian Meronk of Poland.

Jonathan Caldwell was best of the Irish golfers as he carded a round of 68 to lie four strokes behind the Belgian leader. Cormac Sharvin shot 71 to sit 7 shots behind Pieters. Gavin  Moynihan was a further three strokes behind after his opening round of 74, one shot ahead of former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.

Round One Lead Scores Only

64 T PIETERS (BEL),
65 J MCLEOD (AUS), T TREE (ENG),
66 N ELVIRA (ESP), S KIM (USA), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), M WARREN (SCO), A MERONK (POL), E MOLINARI (ITA), S SODERBERG (SWE),
67 L GAGLI (ITA), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), A JOHNSTON (ENG), S HORSFIELD (ENG), T DETRY (BEL), S BROWN (ENG), A RAI (ENG), N COLSAERTS (BEL), W BESSELING (NED), D COUPLAND (ENG), J MORRISON (ENG),
68 C SHINKWIN (ENG), J CATLIN (USA), J SJOHOLM (SWE), B STOW (ENG), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), M JORDAN (ENG), D HORSEY (ENG), S CROCKER (USA), C SYME (SCO), M SIMONSEN (DEN), J SMITH (ENG), J CALDWELL (NIR)
69 F LAPORTA (ITA), O LENGDEN (SWE), R ENOCH (WAL), A KARLSSON (SWE), A OTAEGUI (ESP), J HARDING (RSA), R RAMSAY (SCO), E CUARTERO BLANCO (ESP), M KIEFFER (GER), J SENIOR (ENG), Z LOMBARD (RSA), R FOX (NZL), M LEE (AUS), J SCRIVENER (AUS), S VINCENT (ZIM), S HEISELE (GER),
70 G GREEN (MAS), A QUIROS (ESP), J DONALDSON (WAL), N VON.

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The venue, which will host the European Tour for the next two weeks, will see the Newport location start with Tournament No. 17 on the 2020 Road to Dubai, the €1,000,000 Celtic Classic.

Taking place on the Twenty Ten Course, where Europe won back The Ryder Cup in dramatic fashion ten years ago, the Celtic Classic is the fourth event of the six-tournament UK Swing.

The 44-year-old Pontypridd man, a hero of the 2014 Ryder Cup at The Celtic Manor, is one of a number of players who have represented Europe in the biennial contest who will tee up this week.

“I love coming back down here. It’s a great venue and the course is looking really good, and the sun is shining. I do love playing here, normally you get great crowds, which is a shame, given the current circumstances that won’t be happening. It’s a special place, beautiful setting and beautiful weather. 

“I’ve been playing nicely. After the wrist operation things take time and I’ve been working hard to get that right. I’m fit as a fiddle. Sometimes things take longer than you think they would. I came back last year but never really felt 100 per cent. But now I feel fit, ready to go and look forward to playing next week. This is more of a ball-strikers golf course this week, it’ll help the longer hitter. It’s good that I can shoot low scores like that still. I’ve been playing well in practice, things are starting to come together.”

Ross Fisher and Edoardo Molinari, teammates at The 2010 Ryder Cup are returning to the site of that famous victory which was sealed by Graeme McDowell on the 16^th hole in the anchor match.

In the build up to this week’s tournament, Molinari has spoken about The Celtic Manor as a place that holds happy memories for him:

“It’s a golf course that I love, I have great memories from the Ryder Cup and the Wales Open, I played here a couple of times. It brings back a lot of fantastic memories, playing with Francesco and the whole team, and managing to win that Cup by half a point. It was a fantastic week. The weather, so far, looks good, let’s see what the next few days bring us. It’s always a very enjoyable week here. 

“I have two memories – the first tee with Francesco on the first day, which still gives me goosebumps ten years on. Then the last few holes in the singles against Rickie Fowler, I remember how busy it was, how many people were watching. I’ve never seen that many people be so loud on a golf course.”

Last week’s English Championship winner Andy Sullivan, who represented Europe in 2016, will hope to consolidate his place at the summit of the UK Swing Order of Merit, with the top ten not otherwise exempt after next week’s ISPS Handa Wales Open earning a place at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Those finishing inside the top ten after the sixth and final event – the ISPS Handa UK Championship – will also share £250,000 to donate to charities of their choice.

Sullivan, who claimed his first European Tour victory in 5 years last Sunday, enjoyed the opportunity the past number of days afforded him to celebrate his most recent tour success with family:

“It’s a long time waiting for that fourth win and I couldn’t be happier. Nice to do it in my own country and get back home with the family and celebrate. I’m still on cloud nine, it’s not quite sunk in yet. Florence was elated, bless her, it was my first win with her. She was over the moon and it was good to see a proper smile on her face.”

Irish interest in the Celtic Classic will include former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley who will tee off at 1.29pm on Thursday. First Irishman out will be Gavin Moynihan at 9.39am. Jonathan Caldwell is out just under an hour later, at 10.34am. Cormac Sharvin, who shot an excellent opening round at the English Championship last Thursday, will be the final Irish golfer to start his round, as he begins at 3.57pm.

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Horsfield becomes the first home winner of the Hero Open – formerly the English Open – since Lee Westwood in 1998, and the fifth English winner in total. The win moves him to the top of the UK Swing Rankings, from which the top ten players at the conclusion of the ISPS Handa Wales Open will earn exemptions to the U.S. Open in September.

The 23-year-old said of his first European Tour victory:

“It’s crazy, I can’t put it in to words. I made a bad bogey on 15, then on 17 we wanted to leave a good five wood number and I did. 233, wind out to the left, hit a great shot there.

“It’s special. With everything that’s going on in the world right now, I’m thankful that the European Tour has been able to put on tournaments for us to play. I’ve been in Orlando for the last three months and felt like my game was right there, I played decently last week, had a bad finish but kept the positives from that. I played solid all week and gave myself a lot of opportunities and made one enough.”

Having endured a difficult back nine on Saturday when relinquishing the six-shot lead he had built on the front nine, Horsfield showed determination on an exciting final day at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club, maintaining his lead over the chasing pack for the vast part of the round.

He was knocked off the top of the leaderboard briefly when Detry birdied the 17^th hole to move to the front on 18 under par. The Belgian missed a crucial par putt at the last, however, from four feet to drop back to 17 under alongside Horsfield.

The American-based Horsfield capitalised on the opportunity at the penultimate hole, playing the par five to perfection and picking up a shot to earn a one-one stroke advantage stepping onto the tee of the par three final hole

A deft lag putt left him with an easy par putt to lift the trophy, signing for a four under par 68 and an 18 under total. Horsfield moved to 18th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex, up from 43rd.

Cormac Sharvin, the only Irish golfer to make the weekend cut, finished on five under par, 13 shots behind the leader. The Co. Down man carded a final round of 73 to match his third round score at the Forest of Arden. On the opening two days, the Irishman had shot 70 and 67 respectively to make the final two days of the competition.

Final scores:

270 S HORSFIELD (ENG) 68 63 71 68,
271 T DETRY (BEL) 67 67 71 66,
274 O FARR (WAL) 65 71 67 71, C PAISLEY (ENG) 70 68 66 70, A BJRK (SWE) 68 67 70 69,
275 M KORHONEN (FIN) 67 69 67 72, R HOJGAARD (DEN) 66 71 66 72, M PAVON (FRA) 69 67 69 70, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 69 67 68,
277 S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 62 69 73 73, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 67 70 72, L CANTER (ENG) 67 72 68 70, A RAI (ENG) 71 68 70 68, S JAMIESON (SCO) 71 71 70 65,
278 R ROCK (ENG) 71 69 66 72, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 72 68 67 71, J DONALDSON (WAL) 72 68 68 70, S CROCKER (USA) 67 75 66 70, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 71 71 68, R FOX (NZL) 70 72 68 68, D COUPLAND (ENG) 68 72 71 67,
279 R BLAND (ENG) 70 68 67 74, J SJOHOLM (SWE) 70 68 68 73, R FISHER (ENG) 70 71 67 71, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 67 74 69 69, R RAMSAY (SCO) 69 68 74 68, G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 72 72 65,
280 J HANSEN (DEN) 68 71 66 75, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 68 69 72 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 66 72 71 71, J STALTER (FRA) 67 71 71 71, R PARATORE (ITA) 70 70 69 71, J VEERMAN (USA) 75 66 72 67,
281 B HEBERT (FRA) 69 70 66 76, M JIMINEZ (ESP) 64 72 73 72, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 68 69 72 72, G FORREST (SCO) 69 68 72 72, W BESSELING (NED) 67 70 73 71, B STOW (ENG) 70 71 71 69, D HORSEY (ENG) 71 71 72 67,
282 N LEMKE (SWE) 70 72 64 76, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 70 70 68 74, R KARLBERG (SWE) 68 71 71 72, B POKE (DEN) 72 70 69 71, C SORDET (FRA) 69 72 72 69, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 71 74 67,
283 J SCRIVENER (AUS) 69 69 71 74, A LEVY (FRA) 67 69 74 73, C SHARVIN (NIR) 70 67 73 73, S KIM (USA) 67 71 72 73,
284 P LARRAZABAL (ESP) 64 75 70 75, L DE JAGER (RSA) 74 66 69 75, J CATLIN (USA) 71 70 72 71, B EVANS (ENG) 72 70 71 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 69 71 74 70, D WHITNELL (ENG) 69 72 76 67,
285 R SANTOS (POR) 70 69 71 75, R ENOCH (WAL) 68 72 70 75, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 73 67 72 73, R MCEVOY (ENG) 69 72 72 72, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 69 72 72 72, L SLATTERY (ENG) 70 71 72 72,
286 C PIGEM (ESP) 69 69 76 72, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 70 71 75 70,
287 S BROWN (ENG) 71 71 71 74, S TILEY (ENG) 72 67 75 73,
288 M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 72 70 73 73,
289 C SYME (SCO) 67 75 74 73,
290 T BJ?RN (DEN) 71 71 70 78,
292 M CAMPBELL (NZL) 71 71 73 77,
293 G FDEZ-CASTANO (ESP) 73 68 68 84,

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