“I never really felt like I was threatening any of the flags and didn’t hit so many great shots but I managed to find the greens and get off with two putts when I could, and also holed the putts when I needed to”.
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But the round of the day came from Luke Donald who fired a flawless 65 to sit alongside Lowry on nine under par.
WITH 16 players covered by just five shots, the British Masters leaderboard at Woburn is as busy as the nearby M1 during rush hour.
Another former world number one, Lee Westwood, is two shots further back after a 67 on the Marquess course.
Despite his impressive consistency, the Thai wasn’t particularly bowled over by his performance. “My swing is back to being similar to what it was while my work on the range is back to what it was before”, he said. “A few of the things I did with Chuck were good, like not having so much lateral shift in the downswing”.
Through both having spells at Northwestern University outside Chicago, Donald and Fitzpatrick have become acquainted.
The 21-year-old from Sheffield is in his first full season after coming through the qualifying school last November, but is now 36th on the Race to Dubai after four top-three finishes, three of them in his last seven events. “It’s impossible not to be thinking about it (a first win), but my first aim tomorrow will still remain finishing as high as possible”. I think if that was to happen with another player I would go through the exact same forensic analysis.
“Some great names have won wire-to-wire and it would be nice to add mine to that”, Fitzpatrick said.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat pured a bogey-free, 4-under-par 33-34=67 in his third round of the British Masters to post 12-under 201, good for a share of the 54-hole lead with Matt Fitzpatrick.
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While he was pleased to recover with a 68 yesterday to miss the one under par cut by just four shots, he admitted he was simply too mentally exhausted on the opening day and saw red as his game faltered.
