American Peter Uihlein has put himself in position to win for the first time on the Asian Tour, and The International Series, after holding onto the lead after the third round of the US$2 million International Series England.
The leader at the start of the day chipped in for a birdie on the par-five 18th on the Longcross course at Foxhills Club& Resort, in Surrey, for a two-under-par 69, to finish on 12-under and a one-shot lead over countryman Harold Varner III.
Varner fired a 65 and is a stroke ahead of Englishman Richard Bland, in with a 68, and American Caleb Surratt, who returned a 69.
“It was a bit up and down today,” said Uihlein, four times a runner-up individually on the LIV Golf League but twice on a winning team.
“I feel like I hit a lot of greens until the end. I missed one green early and made double, and then feel like I hit pretty much every green until 15, so I sort of had a run going.
“And then I missed technically four [greens] straight coming in, so that was fun. But was able to salvage a little bit which was nice. So yeah, it was a bit of an up and down, made some nice putts at the end, missed some putts kind of in middle of the round, so it kind of offset each other.”
In his 13-year career as a professional he has won on three occasions, once on the DP World Tour and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, so a first victory on the Asian Tour tomorrow would be a significant milestone.
He added: “Yeah, a win would be nice. You know, it's not been my best year since joining LIV, so it's nice to kind of build some momentum with our final events coming up. And then I’m going to play a few more on The International Series after that, so it will put me in a good position which is nice.”
He made five birdies, including three in a row from the eighth, a double and one bogey.
Varner, already a winner on the Asian Tour having claimed the Saudi International at the beginning of 2022, went bogey free as he shot the lowest round of the day.
He said: “I shot six under par, so it was good. There's another day so just need to keep doing what I'm doing. I feel like I'm playing well. Just control that part of it.
“No bogeys today and only three total for the week. I think I am driving it pretty well, getting up and down in a few places and just, you know, giving myself a lot of looks. Pretty stress-free right now, but it won’t be tomorrow.”
Bland, in the spotlight this year having claimed two senior majors on the Champions Tour – the Senior PGA Championship and the US Senior Open – made birdie on four of the last five to storm through at the end.
“If I am being completely honest, I am struggling with my golf swing,” said the 51-year-old, who lives just 10 minutes away.
“I need to find it. I find it on the range, but I am not taking it onto the golf course, certainly with the driver. The last four or five holes, I won’t say what I said to myself, which was basically just get up and hit it. Stop thinking about it. Hit it hard and it seemed to go in the right direction so I will use that philosophy tomorrow.”
After a poor tee shot on the 10th he lost his cool and snapped the shaft of his three wood.
He added: “I do need to find a new three wood. Just for four or five holes I was struggling. I have been trying to find a golf swing with a driver for about a month now. I can’t remember when I last broke a club through temper. I was frustrated and I bent the shaft, don’t know my own strength. I wasn’t trying to break it. I apologise to the fans for that.”
Surratt, who like Bland also plays on the LIV Golf League, led for much of the day but made double bogey on both the 15th,where he found water, and 16, after a hooked tee shot.
Canadian Richard T. Lee (66) is in solo fifth, three behind the frontrunner, with England’s Andy Sullivan (67), Sadom Kaewkanjana (68) from Thailand and England’s Richard Dinwiddie (72) another stroke back.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
