England’s Justin Rose will need to overcome what promises to be an overwhelming patriotic home crowd if he is to capture the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen.
Rose will tee-up in the final round alongside Scotland’s Marc Warren after both players completed the third round tied at 10-under par.
Rose, and the highest World Ranked player in the £STG 3m field at Number Six, grabbed six birdies including three in succession from the 10th hole, in a five under par 66.
And Rose knows only too well the task he faces if he is to capture a first Scottish Open and his seventh European Tour victory.
“This is a special tournament for Marc and the other Scots which they can take a lot of inspiration from so I’m sure the home crowd will be wanting to see a Scot pick up the trophy,” said Rose.
“So it will depend on who signs their scorecard first, who will be in the last group, and assuming they both make regulation par from the middle of the fairway.
“We’ll see. It’s never easy finishing off a golf tournament, whether you’ve done it five times or never before.
“I’m just looking forward to tomorrow basically. The course, it’s a lot of fun to play and I’m beginning to get my head around it. I understand now some of the lines off the tees. We’ve played it in both winds, so I’m not sure what the weather holds tomorrow, maybe a bit of rain which will throw another element in. But we’ll just deal with it the best we can.”
However Warren, who let slip victory in the event two years ago at Castle Stuart in Inverness, forfeited a one stroke round three lead when he bogeyed the last hole in a four under par 67.
Warren, who is ranked 156 lower in the world than Rose, had raced to the top of the board early in his round with five birdies over his opening 10 holes, and while he birdied the 13th the 33-year old Glaswegian dropped a shot at 14 and then the last.
And while Rose, who won in his last event with victory in the Quicken Loans National, is now favourite to capture a rare European Tour and PGA Tour back-to-back title success, Warren knows he will have near full crowd support as he strives to end a seven-year winless drought and capture only a second European Tour event.
“Overall it was a good day’s work despite dropping a couple of shots there near the end of my round,” said Warren.
“I played really well over the front nine and controlled what I was doing and it just got a bit scrappy towards the end.
“But after going so close to winning two years ago I am really looking forward now to the last round.
“For the Scottish-born guys it doesn’t come any bigger than that and playing alongside Justin Rose tomorrow will just add to the occasion, as well.
“So hopefully the home support will be right behind me.
“And if I were to win it would be great for me because for the Scots this event is like a fifth Major, and outside of the four Majors it doesn’t get any bigger for us.
“It’s very, very exciting and you don’t want to get ahead of yourself but you can only dream.”
However there is a further seven players all with five shots of the lead including Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg who posted a three under par 68 to be in third place at nine under par and two clear of England’s Tyrrell Hatton who shot a 66.
Broberg, Hatton and Scoland’s Craig Lee (66), who shares fifth place at six under par, are on target to secure the three places into next week’s (British) Open Championship at Royal Liverpool
Double Major winning Rory McIlroy rediscovered his form to sign for a three under par 68 to end the round tied in 13th place at three under par, and a day after recording his highest European Tour score in 51 weeks.
McIlroy will now look ahead to next Thursday’s starting 143rd staging of golf’s oldest major and a year after he crashed out of the Muirfield Open with scores of 79 and 75.
“It’s important for me going now into tomorrow’s last round thinking to myself that I have shot 64 and 68 on this golf course, which is two really good scores,” he said.
“Friday was just one of those days where nothing really went right. I couldn’t get any momentum.
“So it would be nice to shoot another good one tomorrow and head to Hoylake with a bit of confidence.
“I feel good with my game and I say enough positives in there to give me confidence going into the Open.”
Tied with McIlroy is American Rickie Fowler (68) while defending champion Phil Mickelson capped his round of 70 with an eagle at the par five sixth hole, and his second eagle this week at the same hole.
