Ice-cool Scott Jamieson continues to defy the golfing skeptics heading to the final round tied by a stroke at 11-under-par at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Jamieson, 38, calmly rolled-in a birdie putt at the last in a four-under 68 to finish clear of 2019 Abu Dhabi winner Shane Lowry and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, and each with 67s, and tied second at 10-under in less testing conditions on the Yas Links course.
The Scotland-born, Florida-based Jamieson is contesting a 300th Tour event and seeks to end a decade-long winless drought since capturing the rain-shortened 36-hole 2012 Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban.
Jamieson has brilliantly led since an opening new course 63 and then continued to stand tall on the Kyle Phillips-designed lay-out in Friday’s brutal near 30 mph winds torture test.
ICE COOL FINISH for 🏴@scottjamieson54 last hole 🐦& day four at 1⃣1⃣-under & one clear @ADGolfChamps @YasLinksGC #RolexSeries @DPWorldTour 👏 💪
Read full story – https://t.co/IXWVNyxuG3
✅ @SundayMailSport (Bernie) pic.twitter.com/WjByJ7RxyT
— 💯Golf ⛳️ (@TOURMISS) January 22, 2022
The Scot posted five ‘moving’ day birdies and none better than at the last where he calmly stood-up to knock-in six-footer for the important advantage over Lowry and Pieters and the chasing pack in the £stg 8m Rolex Series event.
He said: “After yesterday, certainly the whole day seemed a little more straightforward but it still wasn’t easy. The greens were considerably quicker and there was still a decent amount of breeze.
“But funny you say that, when I was on the last green, I noticed no one had made birdie so I was happy to knock in that six-footer at the last”.
Jamieson arrived in the UAE capital lying 336th in the World Rankings and would leap-frog to 90th should he capture only a second Tour title.
Should Jamieson win, it will be his highest ranking in some nine-years since peaking in the world at No. 68 in the 2013 Dubai Desert Classic, and the event taking place next week up the road in Dubai.
He said: “It’s a great question why it’s been 10-years, or else I may have won. All I can do is play whatever shots are in front of me, and just try and stay, all those clichés, stay in the moment and just try and hit the best shot I can.
“To win would be massive, a game changer to win a tournament of this stature. There’s definitely been some great champions here, and that’s an awful long way to go”.
Fellow Scot, Andy Coltart and a calling the action for SKY Sports has picked Lowry to win but naturally showed plenty of support for his tartan compatriot.
Coltart said: “If Scott let’s his golf do the talking he has a really good chance to win but he has to maintain that level of emotional control because it is very easy in chasing the win for your thoughts to run away from you.
“He has to control his breathing. He has to understand there is a score out there to be had, and you have to try and attack that score rather than defend.
“And because he is out there leading doesn’t mean the cards are going to fall for him. He has also to be very, very careful that he must maintain the composure he’s shown now for three days.
“Scottt knows and all his peers know that he’s not won a 72-hole tournament yet and hopefully tomorrow he can go out there and change that story”.
Next best Scot is Richie Ramsay posting a 71 to be sharing 37th spot at one-under-par.
