MacIntyre & Fitzpatrick share Scottish Open lead

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MacIntyre & Fitzpatrick share Scottish Open lead

ByMartin Watt

BBC Sport Scotland at The Renaissance Club
  • Published

Genesis Scottish Open third round

-12 R MacIntyre (Sco), MW Lee (Aus), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -11 C Gotterup (US), T Kim (Kor), M Thorbjornsen (US); -10 K Nakajima (Jpn), W Clark (US), K Roy (US), J Keefer (US)

Selected others: -9 D Willett (Eng); -7 T Fleetwood (Eng); -6 R McIlroy (NI); -5 J Thomas (US); -4 J Rahm (Spa)

Full leaderboard

Home favourite Bob MacIntyre brought the thunder after fog disruption at the Genesis Scottish Open to seize a share of the lead heading into the final round.

MacIntyre completed his third round on Sunday morning, posting a superb blemish-free 65 to reach 12 under.

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick – who had led alongside Michael Thorbjornsen on Saturday evening when play was suspended for a second time because of fog – birdied the last for a 66 to tie at the top with MacIntyre and Min Woo Lee.

Defending champion Chris Gotterup is one adrift alongside Tom Kim, who slipped from the summit with a three-putt bogey on 18, while US Open winner Wyndham Clark is two back.

Rory McIlroy, having shared the lead at the Renaissance Club after the first and second rounds, tumbled six shots off the pace with a three-over 73.

MacIntyre, Fitzpatrick and Lee comprise the final group in round four and the trio will get under way at 14:50 BST.

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MacIntyre is in prime position as he eyes a second Scottish Open title, having won here in 2024 amid rapturous scenes.

The Oban left-hander was two under for this third round when play resumed at 07:00 BST on Sunday and a long-range putt on the 11th delivered another birdie.

Back-to-back gains followed on 13 and 14 before a sumptuous save at the last. Having driven into a fairway bunker, MacIntyre could only muscle it out before lasering his third to within three feet and making par.

Fitzpatrick also finished in eye-catching style, rolling in a 30-footer for birdie after nine successive pars.

Australia’s Lee, the 2021 champion, began the back nine with three birdies in a row. That took him to 13 under but it proved shortlived as he immediately handed a shot back before parring his way home.

Even before the horn sounded amid increasingly poor visibility on Saturday evening, alarm bells had been ringing for McIlroy, whose fine form of earlier in the week deserted him.

He got back under way with another bogey to hit the turn in four over and his solitary birdie of the day on 18 provided scant consolation.

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