Van Rooyen chasing Open spot after 3rd-round 6-under in Scottish Open

Jul 13, 2024 | Featured, South Africans abroad

Erik van Rooyen edged closer to a spot in next week’s Open Championship when he carded a six-under-par 64 in the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.

With the leading three players who make the cut in this DP World Tour and PGA Tour co-sanctioned championship not otherwise already qualified getting to start at Royal Troon, Van Rooyen is one of those three after he made six birdies without dropping a shot as a Scottish summer’s day was more characteristically punctuated by rain than the previous two were. The other two after 54 holes were Frenchman Antoine Rozner and Australian Cam Davis.

Van Rooyen has been superb since dropping three shots in his opening round of three-under 67, and has not dropped a shot since then. He picked up three birdies in the first three holes in the third round, and then made three more on seven, 14 and 15.

His performance took him to 12-under-par for the championship, five strokes off the lead which was held at 17-under by the supremely impressive Ludvig Åberg of Sweden. He was in a share of eighth, together with Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero of Italy.

Åberg will take a two-shot lead into the final round but Robert MacIntyre will be breathing down his neck in search of an emotional home win. The home fans will be rooting for MacIntyre after he was denied victory last year by a birdie-birdie finish capped by a stunning second into the last from McIlroy, but Ryder Cup team-mate Åberg has looked unlikely to stumble in rounds of 64-64-65 so far.

Veteran Australian Adam Scott inserted himself into the conversation with a third round of six-under-par 64 placing him third ahead of the final round at 14-under. Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala of the United States, Korea’s Sungjae Im and Rozner shared fourth on 13-under.

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