PORTRUSH (Northern Ireland): Leaders Shane Lowry and J.B. Holmes teed off for the third round of the British Open on Saturday with the pressure already being applied by the chasing pack on a glorious day at Royal Portrush.

In contrast to the wind and rain of the first two days that saw legendary Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy fail to even make the cut, sunny conditions made for a low scoring morning.

Xander Schauffele, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett and Park Sang-hyun made the most of their opportunity to climb through the field to six-under and were joined by world number one Brooks Koepka as he picked up a shot at the second.

Major winners Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth also made early birdies to move to seven-under, whilst Tommy Fleetwood’s birdie at the first brought him level with Lowry and Holmes at eight-under.

Meanwhile, American Kyle Stanley said he had not apologised for a ‘non-issue’ after his playing partner Robert MacIntyre complained he had not shouted ‘fore’ before his ball hit the mother of the Scot’s caddie at the British Open.

The incident on the 17th hole in Friday’s second round saw Stanley send his tee shot into the gallery, with it hitting the spectator on the hand.

MacIntyre had said he told Stanley he ‘wasn’t happy’ and that his rival ‘didn’t take it well at all’ when confronted over not letting the crowd know the ball was heading in their direction.

“My two playing partners, my caddie, a couple of the volunteers or the marshals, even had them signalling it was going right,” Stanley said after his third-round 73 on Saturday. “I mean, everyone to the right of that ball, they knew it was coming. So to me it’s kind of a non-issue. I’m not really sure why he decided to make such an issue about it. I know it hit his caddie’s mom’s hands off the bounce, and that’s unfortunate.”

World No.57 Stanley appeared bemused by the situation, saying he had never been involved in something like it before and would not speak to MacIntyre about it on Saturday.

He hit out at MacIntyre’s inexperience, with the 22-year-old playing in his maiden major at Royal Portrush.

“He’s a young player. I’ve been out here a while,” said Stanley, 31. “So I don’t feel the need to be schooled on the rules of golf or what to do when you hit a shot off line.”

The criticism of Stanley brought the lack of players calling ‘fore’ into focus again, after controversies with several players on the PGA Tour.

A tee shot from Brooks Koepka also struck a French woman at the Ryder Cup in Paris last year, blinding her in one eye.

“The quality of marshalling and the quality of set-up sometimes makes us a little lazy as players because the guys on the tee are giving great signals,” said Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell. “What happened with Koepka last year at Paris, I’m always surprised that more people don’t get badly injured in golf tournaments because you’ve got projectiles moving very fast in the large crowds.

“And thank God that very little ever happens. I do feel like it’s a professional responsibility to try and warn a crowd if your ball is heading that direction.”

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2019