Monday 1 June 2015 13:55, UK
Rickie Fowler's bid to follow his stunning victory in the Players Championship with another in the Irish Open effectively ended with a nightmare finish to his third round on Saturday.
Fowler, who was part of the victorious United States team in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down, began the day just three shots off the lead and looked to have kept his hopes alive when he chipped in for an eagle on the 16th.
However, the world No 9 then lost a ball off the tee on the 17th and ran up a quadruple-bogey eight, before driving out of bounds on the par-five 18th to card another eight and a round of 76.
At five over par, Fowler heads in to the final round 12 shots adrift leader Soren Kjeldsen, who had surged clear of the field thanks to three birdies on the front nine and three more in a row from the 11th, before finishing with back-to-back bogeys.
Speaking to Sky Sports 4, Kjeldsen said: "I’ll focus on the first 16 holes because I played beautifully and didn’t really do much wrong on the last two, so I feel pretty good.
"I hit a bad tee-shot at 17, but played the rest of the hole really well and then on 18 I thought I played it beautifully but only made a six, it was so windy! It’s too early to think about that (winning), but I’m very pleased to be in the position I am in."
The Dane had been part of a six-way tie of the lead at the start of the day but now holds a two-shot advantage over Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Max Kieffer, with the German setting the new course record with a superb 65.
Richie Ramsay and Bernd Wiesberger, the last pair to tee-off, both ended the day one under, with Tyrrell Hatton joining them three shots off the pace after recovering from a second hole blemish to post two birdies on the back nine.
"It was quite difficult with the wind being opposite to the previous two days,” Hatton told Sky Sports 4. “It wasn’t the best of starts for me but I thought I fought back quite well and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
The early starters took advantage of less wind than on the first two days, with Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard
carding seven birdies in a 66 to move to move one under par for the week in a group that includes Luke Donald.
Watch the final round of the Irish Open on Sunday from 12.30pm live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
