A 40-foot bomb of a putt by Eddie Pepperell on the famous final green of the 18th at the Belfry broke an almighty log-jam on the British Masters leaderboard but Scots Robert MacIntyre and Calum Hill are still in touch.
16 players are within three shots of Pepperell’s 10-under lead going into Saturday’s final round, with MacIntyre and Hill both one back sharing second. Neither of the Scots had their best stuff on a dead calm day in the West Midlands, but they hung tough for two-under 70s to stay right in the mix.
It's tight at the top after 54 holes 📈#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/mp8a8KrEto
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 14, 2021
Pepperell, the winner of this event at Walton Heath in 2018, shot a four-under 68. He’d missed out on the gimme birdies at 15 and 17 before his final flourish gave him the outright lead.
Six sharing second on nine-under
Earlier, former Scottish Open champion Edoardo Molinari rocked a 64 to get to nine-under. He was joined there by Poland’s improving Adrian Meronk and the in-form South African Dean Burmester, both of whom returned 65s.
Another Italian, Guido Migliozzi, shot 67 to join the group. Hill and MacIntyre, playing in the last two groups, both had makeable putts on the 18th to join Pepperell on ten-under and keep a share of the lead but neither was disappointed with their day’s work.
“It could have been another 66 – easily,” said MacIntyre in reference to his second round score. “I just had a day with the putter.
“I hit so many good putts out there that didn’t go in, from short range, long range – it was just one of those days. Other days the ball breaks into the hole and you shoot 66 or better.
“70 was definitely the worst it could have been.”
‘I felt like I gave one away there’
MacIntyre did have one regret, however, not talking himself out of going for the 10th green off the tee, where he hit a hybrid wide right and took a bogey five after a super-solid two-under front nine with no real scares.
“I’m the boss at the end of the day on that,” he said. “Mike (Thomson, his caddie) was trying to hold me back and I am trying to persuade him, saying I need to go for it.
“It was 230 yards to the front and I’ve said it all week that unless it’s a back-left pin, I’m laying it up.
“Today I just got greedy. You try not to give away shots and I felt like I gave away one there.”
Never anywhere else @robert1lefty…#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/jt7KsG7IVX
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 14, 2021
He’d have taken one back going into the final round at the start of the week, obviously, and he’s still confident about Saturday, even if he’ll be five groups from the last because of the second-place logjam.
“If I shoot the lowest score tomorrow, then I’m going to be in with a chance,” he said. “The golf course suits me perfectly. There are only a couple of holes that don’t suit my eye.
“I feel so comfortable on the golf course and the greens as well. I just didn’t hole much today but tomorrow is hopefully a different story.”
Patience and grit see Hill come through to stay in second
Hill was “patient and gritty enough to put in a decent score in the end,” he reckoned.
“I wasn’t disappointed yesterday with a 70 and I shouldn’t be today,” he said. “Sometimes you flush it all the way round for a 70, sometimes you do what I did today. It adds up in the end and that’s what matters.”
Three birdies at 15, 16 and 17 got him back in contention, the “best pitch shot I’ve hit in a long time” at the first long hole, a “weird wedge” which still resulted in a 12 foot birdie putt and two putts from 50 feet at 17.
At 18, the Gleneagles Hotel pro hit two solid shots to 15 feet and liked his putt, but it stayed up.
“The more I put myself here, the more chances I’ll have to win,” he reasoned. “It’s about patience on my part and playing as well as I can. One back (going into the last round) is a good place to be.
It needed one outrageous shot to break up the leading pack and Pepperell provided it. A quick one down from the middle tier to the lower, with a significant left to right break.
Massive putt from @PepperellEddie on 18!
He leads by one at 10 under par.#BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/5oXz8qydFr
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 14, 2021
“I had a great feel from long range today and I just trusted that,” he said. “I holed a great one on 14 as well.”
‘The game still feels difficult’
Pepperell has been slowly playing his way back after post-lockdown struggles where his game went to seed.
“I still don’t feel that confident,” he admitted. “I’ve still got things going on in the swing that I can feel aren’t where they once were and can cause me aggro, so the game still feels difficult.
“I still remember the game feeling easier when I was playing better a few years ago. That’s what I’m trying to get back to, and I’m confident I will.
“I feel good, I feel really calm. Quite enjoying generally hitting better shots, having a good time on the course. But I’m very much still in the process.
“I’m quietly excited about tomorrow.”
Molinari’s 64 was the best of the week, and entirely founded on his putter. The former Ryder Cup player has tumbled down the standings in the last few years but it’s all been down to putting woes.
Willett still hanging in there
Tournament host Danny Willett is still close at seven-under, but wondering why he’s having brief hot streaks this week.
“We really had it going on the first seven holes,” he said. “Then I had my little hour again, like every day this week, to drop a couple of silly ones.
“It took me a while to re-focus, but I finished with a couple of nice ones. Three back, with how the weather looks tomorrow, you’d think it’ll be open for a good run.”
Richie Ramsay, the only other Scot to beat the cut, struggled at three-over for the front nine. He got them all back on the way home and stayed at three-under, sharing 36th place.