Open Championship: the day three wrap-up
While Louis Oosthuizen enhanced his lead at the third round of the Open Championship, going one-under after nine holes, Paul Casey (pictured) was on fire today, with five birdies on the front nine at St Andrews.
Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy are both on four-under-par, both men with a ghost of a chance of challenging tomorrow after Garcia hit a two-under consisting of two birdies, an eagle and a pair of bogeys, while McIlroy was three-under after finding six birdies - but also a bogey on the sixth, and a double on the Road Hole.
Immediately after the round, McIlroy admitted to being "slightly disappointed," but added: "it was nice to shoot a nice score after what happened yesterday. The conditions out there weren't quite as tough as they were yesterday, but it was still pretty tricky out there."
Asked on his chances of a comeback, McIlroy said: "It depends what the guys do [in the next few hours]. If I could be somewhere within five or six of the lead going in tomorrow, I'd be very happy."
Tiger Woods could only keep to level par for the day after 16 holes, meaning the world No. 1 is stuck on four-under-par for the tournament. And Lee Westwood was also level for the day, two birdies and two bogeys keeping him even after 11 holes, though he's six-under for the tournament.
Phil Mickelson was two-under on the day, a haul of six birdies overcoming two bogeys and a double on the 16th. That also means that Phil is two-under for the tournament, as is England's Luke Donald, who shot three-under today.
World No. 4 Steve Stricker had another erratic showing, six birdies, three bogeys and a double on the 4th adding up to a round of one-under - that saw the American on level-par for the tournament.
But Ian Poulter had a sickener, the outspoken Englishman failing to live up to his own hype as he carded two bogeys and a double on the 7th to finish four-over for the day.
And Steven Tiley, the highest placed Englishman on Thursday, failed to make much headway after yesterday's misery, finishing one-over for the day, two-over in total after two bogeys and a double on the 13th.
Japan's Ryo Ishikawa had a poor round too, the 18-year-old finishing with a birdie on the 18th, though that wasn't enough to make up for three bogeys and a double on the 14th; the 18-year-old ended the round three-over par, level for the tournament. John Daly was also level for the tournament, having shot two -over on the day, though Daly improved towards the end with birdies on the 16th and 18th to make up for four earlier bogeys.
While the golf continues this evening, that's it for our updates tonight. But rest assured we'll be back with full coverage of tomorrow's decisive round, when maybe, just maybe, Louis Oosthuizen can pull off the biggest shock (or fluke, depending on your viewpoint) in recent golfing history. Although Paul Casey will clearly have something to say about that.
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