Get your popcorn ready because the upcoming Sunday is to be enjoyed like little children… Neither the Wimbledon final, nor the queen stage of the Tour, nor the Eurocup final, the tournament that is more beautiful than ever is the Genesis Scottish Open. Ten players involved in a range of five strokes with big names involved in the fight. Three of the top eight players in the world included. Ludvig Aberg (-17), Robert MacIntyre (-15), Collin Morikawa (-13), Sahith Theegala (-13), Rory McIlroy (-12)… What an Open appetizer is being experienced this week at The Renaissance Club. Only a great finish from the Swede has prevented the table from being even tighter.
Ludvig Aberg (-17) leads the tournament after 54 holes after opening, as has been said, a mini gap in the last stretch of the third round. In all fairness, this Saturday the Swede has seemed human for a large part of the day. Ludvig has missed more greens in regulation than in the previous two rounds combined (five), but today he has recovered and putted like a real beast. From the sand he looked like Luke Donald and with the putter Cameron Smith. Except for a putt of just over a meter on hole 14, on the rest of the greens he has been unbeatable. No one better than him in this aspect. A 65-stroke card leaves him as the sole leader.
Another of the great virtues that the Swede has brought to light is the ability to recover from falls. He lost the lead after making two consecutive bogeys on the eleventh and twelfth flags. It is hard to see a mistake in the Swede, as two in a row is quite a rarity. He didn’t care and he recovered perfectly with three birdies in the last six holes.
Aberg has been knocking on the doors of victory this season with six top 10s. The little Swedish robot can’t be demanded to accumulate victories yet, but at the level he is playing it is strange that he hasn’t done it yet.
“Man on a mission” say the Anglophiles. A task between eyebrow and eyebrow is what Robert MacIntyre (-15) has: to win the Scottish Open, the Open of his country. For someone as local as MacIntyre one can imagine what the triumph in this tournament would mean. Last year only an excellent Rory McIlroy with two birdies in the last two holes snatched a victory that he was caressing with the tips of his fingers. Since the Scotsman Collin Montgomerie won the tournament back in 1999, no compatriot has won this tournament. Robert wants to end a 25-year drought. Bob would also become the first Scotsman to win twice on the PGA Tour.
Adam Scott (-14) is another of the great contenders for the last day. He has been very consistent all week and seeks to reconnect with victory more than four years later. One stroke behind, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala (-13).
Rory McIlroy (-12) could well come out this Sunday in the stellar match. Rory’s game has been much better than the numbers show, if you can talk about it this way. Playing as he has done today there is no doubt that he will be fighting for the tournament until the end. He just needs to steal from Ludvig Aberg the putting mode that the Swede has had today. On holes 15, 16 and 17 he putted from just two meters for birdie and did not convert any of the three options. Tomorrow he will go out heroically with the intention of becoming the first player in history to defend the crown in the Scottish Open.
The cross of the day has been left by Alejandro del Rey (-7). The Madrid player started in a privileged position three strokes from the leader. A card of 72 strokes makes the fight for victory practically impossible. However, the fight for the Open is far from impossible. He is three strokes from the goal. It is true that there are many contenders on the way, but a great Sunday could open the doors to his first Open. On Friday’s round he already showed that he has more than enough capacity to fly very low at The Renaissance Club.
