- No joy on the greens for local favourite Martin Kaymer (GER, -8).
- Jordan Smith (ENG, -13) leads going into the final round on Sunday.
-
9,500 visitors witness a lot of movement on the leaderboard
at Golfclub München Eichenried. -
Final round to tee off at 07:20 tomorrow – play expected to
finish at 16:45 on Sunday.
Munich. In the world of golf, the third and penultimate round
is often referred to as “Moving Day”, as the players strive to make
progress up the leaderboard and play their way into contention ahead
of Sunday’s final round. While Englishmen Jordan Smith (-13) and
Matt Fitzpatrick (-12, T2), and Austrian Matthias Schwab (AUT, -12,
T2) enjoyed a particularly successful day in this regard, Martin
Kaymer found himself heading in the other direction. However,
despite being five shots off the lead, Germany’s top golfer has
still not given up hope of a second BMW International Open title.
Kaymer had to wait until the 16th hole for his first and
only birdie in a round of 75 that saw him drop back to eleventh place.
Whilst a five-shot deficit is by no means insurmountable on the final
day, the two-time major winner will have to putt as well on Sunday as
he did in the opening two rounds.
“I played similarly to the first two days, but the putts simply
didn’t drop. You get days like that in golf. You have to stay calm and
try not to play your way out of the tournament,” said the 34-year-old.
“I am only five shots off the lead, so it is not an absolute
nightmare. If I have a similar day tomorrow to the first two rounds
then I might be able to make those ahead of me a little bit nervous.”
Smith (-6 for the round), Fitzpatrick and Schwab (-7) demonstrated
emphatically what is possible on any given day. With the wind stronger
than on the previous days, and the greens softer and therefore easier
following the rain, the trio hit birdie after birdie to move to the
top of the leaderboard.
“I have driven very well this week and hardly missed a fairway. That
is the key when the greens are as hard as they were for the first two
rounds. Today, the greens were very soft, which meant that you could
attack them,” said Smith. “I really had my game under control today
and feel right at home here in Germany.”
Like Kaymer, defending champion Matt Wallace (ENG, -11, T4) and Lee
Westwood (ENG, -10, T6), the 2003 BMW International Open winner, are
still in with a chance of winning their second title at Germany’s most
iconic tournament.
With the exception of BMW Friend of the Brand Max Kieffer (-6), who
climbed into a tie for 19th place, the remaining Germans
who made the cut were unable to make up any ground on Saturday. Like
Kaymer, Max Schmitt (-5, T24), Dominic Foos (-2, T46) and Marcel
Schneider (even par, T60) will be hoping for a better Sunday.