Lowry and Harrington stuck in neutral
Nicolai Højgaard. Picture: Getty Images
Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington look to be playing for pride in the final round after getting stuck in neutral on moving day in the Middle East.
Lowry carded a second successive level par 70 in the PIF Saudi International to fall one place to 22nd on two-under-par, ten strokes behind leader Harold Varner III at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
As for Harrington, he didn’t drive the ball well in the DP World Tour’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship and with little dropping on the greens, double-bogeyed his 17th hole to card a level par 72 that left him tied 49th on five-under, 15 shots behind Nicolai Højgaard.
Harrington insisted he needed “a fabulous weekend” to get back into contention after his second round 70.
But it never happened for the three-time major winner, who found just five fairways and saw two birdies wiped out at the par-four 17th, where he took three to get down after sending his greenside bunker shot over the green and racked up a costly double-bogey six.
Højgaard enjoyed a totally different finish as he birdied five of his last six holes and carded an eight-under 64 to lead by three strokes on 20-under par from overnight leader David Law of Scotland, who shot 69.
Højgaard enters Sunday at Al Hamra Golf Club, targeting a second DP World win before his 21st birthday, his twin brother Rasmus having already won three times.
“It felt the same as yesterday actually, played really solid,” said the Dane, who had an eagle two at the fifth.
“I got off to a really good start today. I’m driving really well at the moment, so I’m trying to play quite aggressive, and the last two days have been good off the tees. That’s the reason why I’m shooting all these good scores at the moment. It was pretty good out there.”
He birdied two of the first three holes, bogeyed the short fourth but made two at the fifth and birdie at the eighth to turn in 32.
He dropped a shot at the 10th but showed the field a clean pair of heels over the closing stretch, picking up shots at the 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
He added: “I had really good commitment, just trying to free up on every shot and it felt good. I didn’t hole any big putts until 16, and I finished with a couple of good ones on 16 and 17, so it could have been really, really low.
”You want to be in these positions in the final round, but it’s 18 more holes and a lot can happen in 18 holes.
“I’ve heard it will be a little more windy, so you never know. I’m going to try and do the same things out on the course, commit and free up and then I’ll feel like I have a good chance.”
In Saudi Arabia, Varner III made an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys in a two-under 68 to lead by one stroke on 12-under from Spain’s Adri Arnaus, who shot a 69, with England’s Tommy Fleetwood third on 10-under after a 67.
Lowry birdied his first hole, but despite striking the ball well from tee to green, he had little luck with the putter, handing a shot back at the 164-yard 11th as he had 32 putts.
Varner III will be looking for just his second professional win and his first since he won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016.
“Just hanging in there,” Varner said.
“Really good pins today on 11, 12. So I just did a good job of just slowing down and just doing my job. I love competing. I mean, it’s the greatest thing in life is competing and just working at it.”
Australian Cameron Smith came in with a 70 and is fourth on eight-under, while defending champion Dustin Johnson from the United States (67) is seven under along with Australian Wade Ormsby (68) and Ryosuke Kinoshita from Japan (69).