Watts Closes in at Mount Wolseley

PGAEuroPro Tour

James Watts is closing in on his second HotelPlanner.com PGA EuroPro Tour win in three weeks as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Walk In My Shoes Open after a second consecutive six-under-par 66.

The Englishman won the Simpson & Marwick Championship at Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh two weeks ago and sits on 12 under par ahead of the final round at Mount Wolseley Hotel, Spa & Country Club in Co. Carlow, Ireland.

Stuart Archibald (The Legend Alliance) is one behind after carding a second-round 65 on the par-72 course to move to 11 under, while Richard Kilpatrick’s (Banbridge Golf Club) second-round 66 will see him start the final round third on eight under, four behind the leader.

Watts (Kingsway Golf Centre) carded six birdies in his opening eight holes on Wednesday, and began Thursday’s second round on the tenth tee at six under. Birdies at 12, 14 and 16 took him to nine under and despite two bogeys on the regular front nine he was still able to sign for 66 thanks to three birdies and an eagle on the par-four fourth.

The top five on the Order of Merit at the end of the season earn Challenge Tour cards, and Watts currently lies fifth with £15,109.37 to his name. The Walk In My Shoes Open carries a £40,000 prize fund with £10,000 going to the winner, and victory would see the Hertfordshire golfer move to second on the all-important rankings.

“I hit 3-wood up the left on the fourth,” explained Watts of his eagle. “I got it to within 74 yards and holed it from there, which was lucky.

“I was a bit disappointed because both bogeys I had came from three putts so that was annoying, but I am pleased with another 66.

“Having the win under my belt I know how to deal with the TV cameras and the pressure, but it is a case of doing what I have been doing all week and seeing what happens.

“There is almost more pressure on the final round this week. If I get a second win then it is almost job done in terms of finishing top five on the Order of Merit. With the first win there was no guarantees but a second win would move you a lot closer to job done.”

The final round of the Walk In My Shoes Open will be filmed for a two-hour highlights programme to be broadcast on Sky Sports on Tuesday, August 12, with repeats the following day. Spectator entry is free of charge and live scoring can be found at www.europrotour.com.

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McIlroy Opens Bridgestone with 69

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Rory McIlroy signed for a one-under par round of 69 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone on Thursday.trailing the leader by five strokes.

Marc Leishman set the target on six-under in round one 

McIlroy carded a double-bogey on his penultimate hole which was come0nted for with a superb shot on the last hole, an eight iron stitched pinned to the fag that that got him back into red figures. 

“I drove the ball for the most part well, I got myself into trouble a couple of times which led to a double bogey and a bogey on my back nine – which was the front nine – but apart from that I felt I played really solid golf without doing anything too special,” he said afterwards.

Starting from the 10th, McIlroy opened with three pars before splitting the fairway on the 13th with a drive of 318 yards and hitting his approach to 10 feet to set up his first birdie.

The 25-year-old, who could reclaim top spot in the world rankings from Adam Scott this week, then holed from twice the distance on the 17th to reach the turn in 33 and almost chipped in for another birdie on the first.

McIlroy reached three under par with a two-putt birdie on the par-five second, only to promptly give that shot back on the next after three-putting from long range. Worse was to follow on the eighth when he pushed a drive miles right into heavy rough, finding the greenside bunker with his second and not exactly covering himself in glory before walking off with a six.

But a 340-plus drive straight down the middle of the ninth led to that closing birdie and while there was plenty of room for improvement, McIlroy felt his goal of kicking on from his win at Liverpool was still very much on track.

“I didn’t want any let down,” he explained. “And not just these two weeks, basically for the rest of the season. I’ve got myself in a good position in the FedEx Cup, I can try and get to number one again in the world rankings and there’s a Major still left to play. There’s a lot of golf still left this year, it’s great to win another Major, the Open Championship but I just want to keep going forward.”

Top nine

Ryan Moore and Charl Schwartzel are both one behind the leader on five under. The American Ryder Cup hopeful, Moore, carded a flawless five-under-par 65 as he followed up a good finish at Royal Liverpool with another eye-catching performance.

Moore is currently 14th in the US Ryder Cup points standings, with the top nine after next week’s US PGA Championship sealing a place on Tom Watson’s team for Gleneagles in September.

He was joined on five under by South African Charl Schwartzel, the former US Masters champion carding five birdies in his last eight holes, including four in a row from the fourth. Italian Francesco Molinari dropped his only shot of the day on the 17th to be round in 67, while Wales’s Jamie Donaldson was a shot behind on two under as he looked to cement his place on the Ryder Cup team.

Speaking about his run of birdies, Schwartzel said: “I think it’s the sort of golf course that maybe lends you to going on a run like that. The golf course is in such good shape, there are not many blades of grass out of place. This course can really frustrate you or you can be really happy with the way you played because there is no forgiveness.”

iger Woods was one under par after 14 holes of his opening round.

Graeme McDowell finished one over in a share of 46th place after a round of 71.

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