The Open: Eddie Pepperell left to rue costly double bogey at the 17th
Last Updated: 19/07/15 5:24pm
Eddie Pepperell was left to rue one dreadful tee shot that cost him the chance to finish his third round in the lead of the 144th Open at St Andrews.
The Englishman, playing in the tournament for the first time, was among the earlier starters on Sunday but produced a stunning run of scoring to move to the top of the leaderboard.
Pepperell birdied five of his first six holes to improve to seven under and by the time he reached the notorious 17th - the Road Hole - he was 10 under and level with Dustin Johnson, albeit an hour before the American even started his third 18 holes.
But Pepperell carved his tee shot way right, into the Old Course Hotel, and dropped two shots on a day when he was on track for a possible crack at the course record of 62, held by a number of players including 2010 St Andrews winner Louis Oosthuizen.
A double bogey ensued, dropping Pepperell to eight under, where he finished after parring the closing hole to finish off a round of 66.
"I felt very confident on the tee shot on 17 and maybe did not focus on one or two things that would help me into the left-to-right wind that I tend to struggle with," Pepperell said.
"You could argue a bit of complacency there but I did not want to bail out left because that's admitting defeat on a tough hole.
"To finish double bogey-par is disappointing around this golf course. I don't feel that comfortable with my driver so I'm going to have to improve that a little bit come tomorrow.
"Having said that, you haven't got to drive the ball immaculately around this golf course, you just can't hit a bad shot on a couple of holes quite frankly.
"My putting was good today and it's going to be the guy with the hottest putter, depending a little bit on the conditions, that's going to come closest to winning this tournament because you can have a lot of birdie opportunities.
"If I can keep putting well and keep the pace that I've got on the greens, then I feel like I can make enough birdies to certainly give it a run tomorrow."
Pepperell's mistake meant it was Australia's Marc Leishman setting the early pace in the clubhouse after a bogey-free round of 64.
Leishman was in sensational form on the greens, needing only 25 putts in his third round, and he caught fire in the middle part of his round with birdies coming at eight holes from the fourth to the 15th.
That meant he needed to play the last three holes in two under to shoot the first 62 in any major - there have been 26 rounds of 63 - but the 31-year-old narrowly missed good chances on the 16th and 17th before his approach to the 18th span back into the Valley of Sin.
But just being at St Andrews is a relief for Leishman who, only three months ago, had to withdraw from the Masters to be with his wife Audrey who had fallen seriously ill with toxic shock syndrome. She was put in an induced coma but is now thankfully recovering, putting golf into perspective for the Australian player.
He said: "I don't think about what happened but it has definitely changed my whole perspective on life. I feel like I've always had a pretty good outlook on life, but now it just takes a lot more to worry me.
"I don't get annoyed about little things that I can't really help. When you hit a bad shot there's no real point getting frustrated about it because you tried to hit a good shot. You didn't. Move on.
"I feel like even if I do have a bad day I can still go home and hopefully give her a hug and cuddle my boys. There for a while it didn't look like I was going to be able to do that.
"Today, I gave myself some really good chances there on the last three holes, and actually hit a good shot into 18. It just didn't bounce as hard as I thought it might have. It was disappointing not to go a couple better, but still, as far as this week goes, 64 gets me right back in it."
