CASTLE ROCK (Colorado), Aug 10: Davis Love III remains on course for his fourth title of the season after maintaining a 10-point lead in the third round of The International on Saturday.
In an event that uses the modernised Stableford scoring system, Love tallied five points for a total of 41 and a clear advantage over John Rollins, who matched the leader’s total over 18 holes to finish the day on 31.
Fiji’s Vijay Singh (9) is third with 28 points, followed by Chris DiMarco (11) and South Africa’s Retief Goosen (9) on 26 points.
The field was cut again following Saturday’s round to the top-36 players and ties.
The scoring system awards eight points for a double eagle, five points for an eagle, two points for a birdie, zero points for a par, minus-one point for a bogey and minus-two points for double bogey or higher.
Love, who had 10 birdies in the first round and three eagles in the second round, turned in a pedestrian three-birdie, one-bogey performance at the par-72 Castle Pines Golf Club.
All of Love’s scoring was done in the first 10 holes.
He birdied the par-four fifth, ninth and 10th holes, and bogeyed the par-four sixth.
He recorded pars on all four par-fives for no score on the holes that had given him 21 points on the first two days.
Although Love’s lead never fell below eight points, he did have to save a few pars.
At the par-four 13th, Love got up and down from the sand and he also rolled in a four-footer for par at the 18th.
Rollins carded four birdies and three bogeys, including a bogey at the par-four 18th.
Though he was not able to gain any ground on the front-running Love, he is not about to admit defeat.
Third round scores (US unless stated):
41 Davis Love III 19 17 5
31 John Rollins 11 15 5
28 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 4 15 9
26 Chris DiMarco 8 7 11, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 2 15 9
23 Phil Mickelson 8 14 1
22 J.J. Henry 6 10 6
21 Charles Howell III 14 4 3
20 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 9 3 8
19 Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 0 8 11
18 Mathew Goggin (Australia) 4 10 4, Greg Norman (Australia) 6 5 7, Kent Jones 5 14 -1, Bob Tway 12 6 0
17 Rod Pampling (Australia) 2 6 9, John Senden (Australia) 1 10 6, Stewart Cink 5 11 1
16 Briny Baird 6 2 8, Tim Petrovic 2 11 3
15 David Sutherland 7 2 6, Duffy Waldorf 3 4 8, Robert Allenby (Australia) 7 3 5, Brett Quigley 0 6 9, Steve Lowery 9 3 3, Bob Burns 6 6 3, Matt Gogel -3 7 11.
COPENHAGEN: Ian Poulter claimed his second European Tour title of the year when he pipped fellow-Briton Colin Montgomerie by one stroke to win the inaugural Nordic Open on Sunday.
Poulter shot a final round six-under-par 66 for a 22-under-par total of 266, while Montgomerie, who had started the day tied for the lead, carded a 68 for a final total of 267.
Leading final round scores:
266 Ian Poulter 68 67 65 66
267 Colin Montgomerie 70 65 64 68
268 Stephen Gallacher 71 65 69 63, Soren Hansen (Denmark) 71 66 62 69, Gregory Havret (France) 68 63 69 68
269 Brian Davis 66 68 67 68
270 David Gilford 66 67 67 70
271 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 65 70 68 68, Marten Olander (Sweden) 66 73 65 67, Patrik Sjoland (Sweden) 69 64 68 70, Steve Webster 66 71 69 65
272 Julien Clement (Switzerland) 70 70 68 64
273 Henrik Bjornstad (Norway) 72 69 66 66, Andrew Coltart 66 69 69 69, Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 69 66 73 65
274 Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 70 68 69 67, Miles Tunnicliff 73 64 68 69
275 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 67 69 72 67, Mark Foster 69 68 67 71, Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 72 69 66 68, Kevin Na (South Korea) 70 64 69 72
276 Peter Jespersen (Denmark) 68 68 71 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68 72 69 67, David Park 67 71 68 70.—Reuters