Golf - British Open:Rory McIlroy was left to rue an untimely double-bogey at the infamous Road Hole 17th but he still made up ground on day three of the British Open at St Andrews where South African Louis Oosthuizen took it all in his stride to keep hold of a four shot overnight lead.
The day referred to as ‘moving day’ in tournament golf still endured gusting conditions along the Scottish east coast venue but nowhere near as severe as yesterday's second round where so many leading players where blown off course.
McIlroy succumbed to an 80 - the second worst score of his fledgling professional career - but bounced back with today's 69 to get to four under heading into the final round and also ensure he has still never shot in the 70s at the Old Course.
The 21-year-old's round started steadily with four pars before his first birdie of the day came at the par five fifth when he got up and down from the greenside bunker.
However he immediately gave it back with a three putt bogey before the outward stretch at concluded with back-to-back birdies to go out in two under 34.
The birdie at the short eighth came when he fired his iron into eight feet and holed, while the world number nine reached the green at the short par four ninth and two putted.
He picked up shots on the easier back nine at the 12th, 15th and 18th but the 17th proved costly as his approach rested up against the wall beyond the green. Forced to pitch towards the 18th tee, he failed to get up an down and made six.
“I’m still slightly disappointed not to be closer to the leaders,” said McIlroy after his round. "Apart from the double-bogey six at 17 I played well.”
"I hit a good shot on 17, just got a gust of wind that completely switched. I hit a seven-iron 210 yards and got a complete gust there, so it was pretty unfortunate.
“It was nice to shoot a score after yesterday’s round (of 80). I just treated it as a new day.
“I get a lot of support out there and that definitely gives you a big lift," added McIlroy, who closed with a 62 to win the Quail Hollow Championship on the PGA Tour. He will need something similar and even that may not be enough.
McIlroy's former Irish amateur team-mate Shane Lowry also finished the day four-under after he made a satisfying birdie at the 18th for a 71.
Oosthuizen was a rock all day long and closed with an impressive birdie at the 18th for a 69 to lead on 15 under 201, four ahead of England’s Paul Casey, who along with Henrik Stenson and Robert Rock, shot 67, the low rounds of the day.
Although Oosthuizen three-putted the first for bogey it was his only dropped shot of the day as no player ever looked like catching him. Casey did his best with a five birdie blitz on the front nine but came home in nine straight pars to be the South African’s nearest challenger.
Germany’s Martin Kaymer (68) is third on eight under while Lee Westwood, playing alongside Casey in the penultimate group, must have thought he was treading water.
However there was huge disappointment for Darren Clarke and his playing partner Tiger Woods. Clarke dropped way off the pace to one over after a poor 77 that contained a mixed bag of five bogeys, a triple at the 17th and just three birdies.
Woods, on the other hand, could only manage a second successive 73 to drop back to three under.
"I played well today, but made nothing. Didn't gather any momentum at all," said the world number one Woods.
It was also a day to forget for Graeme McDowell, who dropped back to one under par after shooting 76. One of the few bright points was his two-putt birdie from the Valley of Sin on the 18th.
Athlone’s Colm Moriarty enjoyed a decent afternoon with his level par 72 to remain one over.
Earlier in the day the final 10 pairings had to finish their second rounds following yesterday's battering by the wind on the Fife coast.
The players returned to the Old Course to resume play at 6.30am and one of them was Stenson, who enjoyed a disrupted but fine day at the Home of Golf.
The Swede woke at 4.15am to prepare for the conclusion of his second round - which he completed in one under – then got a couple of hours more sleep before returning to the course in the afternoon.
He returned a five under card to move into joint fourth. "It was a weird but enjoyable day," said Stenson. "I got up at 4.15am, completed my second round, then made sure I had wake up calls and got some more sleep before my 1.40pm tee time."
Four birdies on the front were bettered with a pitch-in eagle two at the par four 13th. Although he dropped shots at the 16 and 17, he closed out the day with a birdie.
There were many highs and lows on moving day but if the leader demonstrates this type of composure again in the final round, then the rest could well be playing for places.
Third round scores from the British Open at St Andrews, Scotland
(US unless stated, a- denotes amateur)
201Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 65 67 69
205Paul Casey (Britain) 69 69 67
208Martin Kaymer (Germany) 69 71 68
209Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 68 74 67 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 67 71 71 Lee Westwood (Britain) 67 71 71
210Dustin Johnson (U.S.) 69 72 69
211Nick Watney (U.S.) 67 73 71 Sean O'Hair (U.S.) 67 72 72 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69 70 72 Ricky Barnes (U.S.) 68 71 72
212 Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 63 80 69J.B. Holmes (U.S.) 70 72 70 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 71 71 70 Shane Lowry (Ireland) 68 73 71Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 71 72 a-Jin Jeong (South Korea) 68 70 74
213Robert Rock (Britain) 68 78 67 Ross Fisher (Britain) 68 77 68 Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 68 75 70 Lucas Glover (U.S.) 67 76 70 Tiger Woods (U.S.) 67 73 73 Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 69 71 73 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 72 67 74 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 66 73 74
214Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 71 75 68 Steve Marino 69 76 69 Luke Donald (Britain) 73 72 69 Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 71 73 70 Phil Mickelson (U.S.) 73 71 70 Kevin Na (U.S.) 70 74 70 Adam Scott (Australia) 72 70 72 Jeff Overton (U.S.) 73 69 72 Bo Van Pelt (U.S.) 69 72 73 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden) 67 74 73 Tom Lehman (U.S.) 71 68 75 Mark Calcavecchia (U.S.) 70 67 77
215Stewart Cink (U.S.) 70 74 71 Robert Allenby (Australia) 69 75 71 Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 71 68 76
216Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 72 74 70 Hunter Mahan (U.S.) 69 76 71 Steve Stricker (U.S.) 71 74 71 Zane Scotland (Britain) 70 74 72 Marc Leishman (Australia) 73 71 72 Simon Khan (Britain) 74 69 73 John Daly (U.S.) 66 76 74 Marcel Siem (Germany) 67 75 74 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 72 70 74 Bradley Dredge (Britain) 66 76 74 Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 68 73 75
217Tom Pernice Jr. (U.S.) 72 74 71 Matt Kuchar (U.S.) 72 74 71 Rickie Fowler (U.S.) 79 67 71 Colm Moriarty (Ireland) 72 73 72Kim Kyung-tae (South Korea) 70 74 73 Simon Dyson (Britain) 69 75 73 John Senden (Australia) 68 76 73 Andrew Coltart (Britain) 66 77 74 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 68 74 75 Yang Yong-eun (South Korea) 67 74 76 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 68 73 76 Darren Clarke (N Ireland) 70 70 77Toru Taniguchi (Japan) 70 70 77
218Steven Tiley (Britain) 66 79 73 Heath Slocum (U.S.) 71 74 73 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 69 76 73 Peter Senior (Australia) 73 71 74
219Hirofumi Miyase (Japan) 71 75 73 Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 74 71 74 Scott Verplank (U.S.) 72 73 74
220Danny Chia (Malaysia) 69 77 74 Zach Johnson (U.S.) 72 74 74 Jason Day (Australia) 71 74 75 Ian Poulter (Britain) 71 73 76
221Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 71 73 77
222Richard Johnson (Sweden) 73 73 76