After a scintillating round of 65 on Friday, it was always going to be a challenge for Shane Lowry to follow that up in the third round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and the 2019 British Open champion ended the day four off the lead after a round of 74 left him at 10 under par.
Lowry went in to Saturday tied for the lead with Matt Fitzpatrick but both players failed to fire while Tyrrell Hatton built a three-shot lead thanks to a round of 69.
Hatton goes into the final round at 14 under par with Joachim B Hansen and Victor Perez his nearest challengers at 11 under.
In the toughest conditions of the week so far in Surrey, with a cold breeze blowing across the famed West Course, Lowry found himself two clear of the field after a birdie at the fourth while playing partner Fitzpatrick struggled.
However, a double bogey six at the ninth – after his drive into the trees forced him to pitch out sideways – coupled with an eagle at the 12th and a birdie at the 13th for Hatton, meant Lowry slipped behind.
That double bogey knocked the Offalyman off his stride as the good golf he displayed on Thursday and Friday seemed to disappear. A birdie at the Par 5 12th was a welcome shot back while a lucky bounce back off some trees at the 15th – after a dead pull left with his approach – allowed him to get up and down to save par.
However, a bogey fat the 16th – after a poor wedged approach found a bunker – meant Hatton had the opportunity to pull a distance away from the field.
After a bogey at the 15th, he failed to birdie the Par 5 17th but a good up and down from a greenside bunker at the 18th meant he finished with a birdie to open up that three-shot lead with one round to play.
Lowry also failed to birdie the 17th and needed to find a four at the Par 5 18th to ensure his place in the final group.
However, after laying up short of the water, a torrential downpour came down as he began to line up his third shot and his wedged approach was a little heavy, spinning up well short of the flag.
From there a pitch shot up to about 12 feet left him with too much work to do to save par and he closed with a frustrating bogey six, leaving him with plenty of work to do if he is going to win this European Tour flagship event.
Alongside Lowry at 10 under are David Horsey, Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Reed. One shot further back is Ian Poulter who Lowry will play with in the final round.
A level par round of 72 leaves European Ryder Cup captain Pádraig Harrington in a tie for 44th at one under par.
Collated third round scores and totals (British unless stated, par 72):
202 Tyrrell Hatton 66 67 69
205 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 67 70, Victor Perez (Fra) 69 66 70
206 Shane Lowry (Irl) 67 65 74, Tommy Fleetwood 71 68 67, David Horsey 70 69 67, Patrick Reed (USA) 70 68 68
207 Ian Poulter 69 70 68, Eddie Pepperell 67 70 70
208 Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 70 69 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick 67 65 76, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 69 66
209 Andy Sullivan 71 69 69
210 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 66 70 74, Andrew Johnston 68 71 71, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 67 71, Steven Brown 75 67 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 68 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 69 68, Scott Hend (Aus) 68 69 73, Jordan Smith 72 67 71
211 Robert Rock 69 70 72, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 71 71 69, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 72 70 69, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 68 70 73, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 69 71 71
212 Matt Wallace 69 71 72, Grant Forrest 69 67 76, Gavin Green (Mal) 67 71 74, Lee Westwood 70 71 71
213 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 70 72, Richie Ramsay 71 71 71, Ross Fisher 72 72 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 71 71, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 72 67 74, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 71 74
214 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 72 71 71, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 72 73, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 72 72 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 72 67 75, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 72 72, Sean Crocker (USA) 72 70 72, Michael Bullen 71 72 71
215 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 73 70 72, Justin Rose 68 75 72, Graeme McDowell (Irl) 73 70 72, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 71 73 71, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 76 68 71, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 71 72
216 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 75 68 73, Danny Willett 71 71 74, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 72 71 73, Oliver Fisher 72 72 72
217 Stephen Gallacher 72 71 74, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 71 73 73, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 68 71 78, Alexander Levy (Fra) 72 68 77
218 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 71 73 74, Robert Macintyre 73 68 77
219 Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 71 73 75, Matthew Southgate 70 73 76, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 71 76, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 74 69 76
220 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 73 71 76, David Howell 72 68 80, Romain Langasque (Fra) 71 72 77
221 Joel Stalter (Fra) 76 68 77
