Scott overcomes rough start to remain in the hunt in wide-open PGA Championship

By Mark Tallentire September 12, 2021 â€" 1.12pm

If there was a day to have your worst score of a tournament then Adam Scott will hope he had his on Saturday when a third birdie of the week at the 18th helped him to a two-under total that kept him well in contention in a BMW PGA Championship field that has four shots separating the top-13 players.

Scott, who finished at 12-under par after a 70 and two shots behind his playing partner Francesco Laporta (69), did not have his best day, but thankfully for him none of the later starters did either and, if anything, the final round begins with a more compacted leaderboard than it was after 54 holes.

Adam Scott plays his approach into the 17th green during the third round at the BMW PGA Championship.Credit:Getty

Laurie Canter of England, 13-under par, and Laporta, the overnight leader, will be in the final pairing, and neither has won on the European Tour, while Scott will be out with Jamie Donaldson of Wales in the third-last group. Also on 12-under but in the group behind them will be Billy Horschel of the US and South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

“There’s the pressure coming tomorrow,” Scott said. “They are tough holes. You don’t have to do a lot wrong to make a bogey. But in saying that, in two good shots you can make a birdie and really get moving in the right direction.”

Scott parred the opener despite pulling his drive to the left rough, but he took a club too few at the par-three 2nd, saw his ball pitch and stop just short of the green and then slowly roll back downhill 30 yards. He got down in three more and followed up with another bogey after finding a plugged lie in a greenside bunker. The par-five 4th provided relief, and he picked up his fourth shot of the week there with a one-putt birdie after laying up, and followed up with a birdie two at the next - only to give the shot straight back with a bogey at the 6th.

Adam Scott and Francesco Laporta shake hands on the 18th green after completing their rounds at Wentworth.Credit:Getty

“What I’m going to focus on now is the first three holes and try and get under par through three or four, and I think there’s a good score out there,” Scott added. “That’s two days in a row it’s been a rough start, but that can happen here. I really don’t want to be in that position tomorrow. I’d like to get off to a good start and get the momentum on my side, and then this course can really present itself to you.”

Scott reached the turn at one-over par and, with most of the field making hay on the back nine, the Australian managed to get in on the act and back to the clubhouse without dropping further shots despite some scratchy plays off the tees and fairways. And three birdies hoisted him back up the leaderboard and into a four-man share of third place.

“You know, you’ve just got to settle down and knuckle down, and I did. And I’ve kind of left myself work to do on the last three holes each day and so far I’ve managed to do it OK,” he added, after offering a few quiet words of encouragement to Italy’s Laporta as they left the final green. “It had to be if I want to think I’ve got a chance. It’s so bunched. There’s going to be one or two guys, at least, who shoot a good score. You can’t afford to be four [shots] back when there’s so many guys up there.”

Wade Ormsby was two-over for his front nine with bogeys at the 1st and 3rd and two-under on the back, where he picked up shots at the 13th and inevitably the last, to remain on his overnight five-under par. After what has been a quiet week for the Adelaide man, he will be out at 9.15am with most of the spectators and the veteran Lee Westwood, who is hanging on to the final automatic place in the European Ryder Cup team that will be named after the round has finished.

Westwood needs a really low total to help keep Shane Lowry, currently on 11-under in the tournament, at arm’s length after Scott’s birdie at the 18th had the side-effect of edging the Irishman into a three-man tie for seventh place and out of the Whistling Straits nine for the time being. There are three wildcard picks available to the captain Padraig Harrington, however, and Lowry would be more optimistic than Westwood about being offered one.

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