Dylan Frittelli felt he was battling his swing for most of the day on Saturday, but he found a way to make two eagles on his way to a three-under 69 in the third round of the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course in St Andrews.
He moved to six-under for the championship, into a share of 16th, to be the highest-placed South African heading into the final round. He was 10 strokes behind the joint leaders, Viktor Hovland of Norway and the man chasing his first major title in eight years, Rory McIlroy.
“It was not my best golf today at times, just a couple of wayward swings,” said Frittelli. “I forced the drive on 10. Snap-hooked it to the left. Hit a provisional on the green actually. I know I had the length to get there. On the 12th, same thing, a little toe off the driver, went left on me in the gorse, made a bogey there. A few errors with the tee.”
He made three birdies and four bogeys, so the two eagles were what kept him under par for the round. “The wind got up there when I teed off, so it was pretty tough,” he said. “I knew anything under par would be a decent score. If I broke 70, that would be enough to probably move me up five, 10 places, I would hope.”
The eagles closed out each nine for him, and they gave him mental momentum to go after the course again in the final round.
“The ninth hole was a terrible tee shot,” he said. I hit it in the bunker and had 45 yards to the pin. I was just trying to get it up there on the green and it somehow went in as it hit the pin at speed. Really good shot. Hit it really well.
“On 18, I hit a great tee shot. Thought it would get up on the green, but it didn’t get up. Had a tricky one from the Valley of Sin there but somehow made that one as well.”
A strong final round could put him in position to get close to the fifth-place finish he got in last year’s Open Championship.
