Robert Rock carded a breath-taking, record breaking 60 in front of capacity crowds at Lahinch Golf Club to take a one shot lead into the final round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
The Englishman’s ten under par effort – a new course record – is the lowest round in the history of the event and also bettered his best ever European Tour round by three shots, and matches Brandon Stone’s record for the lowest round in the Rolex Series.
The 42-year-old birdied his final six holes, which included a 35-foot putt for eagle on the last for the second 59 in European Tour history. After missing by mere inches on the low side, Rock sits on top of the leaderboard at 13 under par, one clear of Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello and England’s Eddie Pepperell.
And in a remarkable twist of fate, Rock’s caddie Gary Tilston is the brother of Guy Tilston, Oliver Fisher’s caddie when he recorded the history making first 59 at last season’s Portugal Masters.
South African Zander Lombard was then at 11 under, with England’s Andy Sullivan and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger three shots off the lead.
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open reached capacity crowds for Saturday at Lahinch Golf Club, making it the event’s first sell-out day since 2012 at Royal Portrush Golf Club.
Player Quotes
Robert Rock: “That’s the first chance I’ve had to do it. It’s disappointing not to but 60 is a great score. It’s my best score.
“I played rubbish so far this year, so just delighted to play better. It is a good opportunity, it’s an opportunity to get my season back on track, to try to qualify for The Open and maybe have a chance to win a tournament again, which would be lovely because it’s been a long while.
“Any time you’ve got a chance to win a tournament like the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open or the Scottish Open, it really means something, it gives me a little extra focus. It’s hard to say it makes you play great because you can’t force that but it’s a great tournament and the people are amazing. I think the quality of the golf course is just fun to play.”
Rafa Cabrera Bello: “Great moving day. I felt I played really good, especially around the greens. I made some really nice up-and-downs, including the one on 18, and I think that’s what really made the difference from a good round that it would have been to a really good one.
“When you’re chasing, you always want to go and have a good one but you have to understand that it doesn’t always happen and really, what I just tried to do today, is just play one shot at a time and forget the score.”
Eddie Pepperell: “I hit some good swings coming in, particularly with my short irons, hit some good drivers and really good short irons. I felt pretty aggressive all day. I felt comfortable all day. It just wasn’t coming my way to begin with. Nothing really changed. Just golf, isn’t it, as we all know.
“I’m quite looking for tomorrow, and indeed beyond tomorrow. Body feels good, driving the ball well and no reason why I can’t go out there and shoot a low one.”
Round Three Scores
197 R Rock (Eng) 67 70 60,
198 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 68 67 63, E Pepperell (Eng) 65 67 66,
199 Z Lombard (RSA) 64 67 68,
200 B Wiesberger (Aut) 69 66 65, A Sullivan (Eng) 68 66 66,
201 C Sharvin (Nir) 66 69 66, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 65 70 66,
202 O Wilson (Eng) 66 69 67, G Forrest (Sco) 71 66 65, J Campillo (Esp) 69 64 69, P Waring (Eng) 67 68 67, J Rahm (Esp) 67 71 64,
203 N Lemke (Swe) 68 66 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 65 69 69, T Olesen (Den) 65 69 69, G Coetzee (RSA) 70 67 66, R Dawson (Irl) 68 71 64, E Molinari (Ita) 68 68 67, G Green (Mas) 66 72 65, B Stone (RSA) 67 67 69,
204 M Kaymer (Ger) 66 70 68, A Ancer (Mex) 66 67 71, L Westwood (Eng) 66 67 71,
205 J Lagergren (Swe) 67 71 67, R Knox (Sco) 67 68 70, O Fisher (Eng) 67 69 69, H Li (Chn) 68 68 69,
206 T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 69 70, A Romero (Arg) 68 70 68, H Park (Kor) 65 69 72, A Arnaus (Esp) 68 68 70,
207 S Soderberg (Swe) 67 68 72, A Cañizares (Esp) 68 69 70, T Detry (Bel) 70 68 69, R Macintyre (Sco) 66 69 72, C Paisley (Eng) 65 72 70, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 68 69, M Schmitt (Ger) 70 68 69, R Karlsson (Swe) 68 70 69,
208 G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 69 70 69, S Lowry (Irl) 66 72 70, A Karlsson (Swe) 67 72 69, L Gagli (Ita) 68 70 70, R McEvoy (Eng) 71 68 69, L Oosthuizen (RSA) 71 67 70, I Poulter (Eng) 66 73 69, B Dredge (Wal) 72 67 69, M Kawamura (Jpn) 69 68 71,
209 S Brazel (Aus) 68 71 70, S Power (Irl) 70 66 73, R Sterne (RSA) 72 67 70, B Hebert (Fra) 71 67 71, M Wallace (Eng) 68 68 73, L Slattery (Eng) 65 74 70, C Sordet (Fra) 71 68 70, P Harrington (Irl) 63 73 73,
211 J Singh Brar (Eng) 70 69 72, A Björk (Swe) 72 67 72, V Perez (Fra) 70 68 73, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 67 72 72,
212 T Lewis (Eng) 68 68 76, J Winther (Den) 72 67 73,
214 L Johnston (Sco) 68 70 76, M Kinhult (Swe) 67 70 77,
215 L Herbert (Aus) 70 68 77,
140 P Dunne (Irl) 71 69 0, A Pavan (Ita) 70 70 0, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71 0, J Harding (RSA) 72 68 0, A Rai (Eng) 71 69 0, L De Jager (RSA) 72 68 0, D Howell (Eng) 69 71 0, P McBride (Irl) 70 70 0,
141 N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 72 0, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 69 0, D Law (Sco) 68 73 0, P Figueiredo (Por) 68 73 0, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 69 0, D Horsey (Eng) 69 72 0, M Southgate (Eng) 69 72 0, R Langasque (Fra) 69 72 0, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 72 69 0, D Fichardt (RSA) 73 68 0, B Evans (Eng) 71 70 0, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 70 71 0, J McLeod (Aus) 73 68 0, H Porteous (RSA) 68 73 0, S Horsfield (Eng) 72 69 0, M Schwab (Aut) 71 70 0,
142 D Drysdale (Sco) 70 72 0, J Walters (RSA) 70 72 0, S Gallacher (Sco) 71 71 0, V Dubuisson (Fra) 70 72 0, D Willett (Eng) 68 74 0, G Bhullar (Ind) 67 75 0, A Quiros (Esp) 71 71 0, J Morrison (Eng) 71 71 0, K Reitan (Nor) 74 68 0, F Zanotti (Par) 70 72 0, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 72 0, R Gouveia (Por) 71 71 0, R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70 0, T Hatton (Eng) 73 69 0, B Casey (Irl) 70 72 0, R Wattel (Fra) 71 71 0, P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 73 0,
143 T Pieters (Bel) 73 70 0, J Hansen (Den) 69 74 0, L Bjerregaard (Den) 72 71 0, C O’Rourke (Irl) 71 72 0, S Park (Kor) 68 75 0, S Chawrasia (Ind) 72 71 0, S Sharma (Ind) 72 71 0, A Levy (Fra) 73 70 0, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 74 0,
144 D Burmester (RSA) 70 74 0, G McDowell (Nir) 72 72 0, S Hend (Aus) 73 71 0, J Suri (USA) 72 72 0, T Aiken (RSA) 71 73 0, S Brown (Eng) 68 76 0, M Pavon (Fra) 73 71 0, R Paratore (Ita) 70 74 0,
145 J Smith (Eng) 73 72 0, S Manley (Wal) 69 76 0, T Jaidee (Tha) 70 75 0, H Tanihara (Jpn) 73 72 0, A Chesters (Eng) 75 70 0, N Elvira (Esp) 73 72 0, R Fisher (Eng) 71 74 0, M McGeady (Irl) 71 74 0, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 74 71 0,
146 G Migliozzi (Ita) 68 78 0, A Wu (Chn) 73 73 0, S Crocker (USA) 74 72 0, J Scrivener (Aus) 76 70 0, J Luiten (Ned) 70 76 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 72 74 0, C Wood (Eng) 70 76 0, J Donaldson (Wal) 71 75 0, K Koivu (Fin) 72 74 0, K Kitayama (USA) 73 73 0, J Dantorp (Swe) 71 75 0, J Van Zyl (RSA) 71 75 0,
147 A Johnston (Eng) 71 76 0, P Edberg (Swe) 75 72 0, T Immelman (RSA) 78 69 0, D Clarke (Nir) 71 76 0,
150 R Fox (Nzl) 73 77 0, S Jamieson (Sco) 73 77 0,
151 K Samooja (Fin) 75 76 0, T Bjørn (Den) 71 80 0,
152 Y Miyazato (Jpn) 74 78 0, D Lipsky (USA) 75 77 0, J Wang (Kor) 73 79 0,
