NEW ZEALAND’S RYAN Fox powered into pole position to win his second DP World Tour title of the season at the 2022 Soudal Open in Antwerp.
The in-form Kiwi carded a third-round of 66 on Saturday to reach 11 under par, a shot ahead of England’s Sam Horsfield.
But it has been the performances of Dubliner Niall Kearney that has really caught the eye.
Ranked a lowly 176 on the DP Tour, Kearney has played superbly this week. While his driving has been consistently good, every aspect of his game has been on song in Belgium. He began the tournament with a 69, followed that up with a four-under round of 67 yesterday and then posted another 69 today.
Key to that run was his front nine – where he recorded three birdies, at the par-3 second, the par-5 fifth and the par-four eighth. Only a bogey on 10 blotted his card.
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He is three shots behind Fox, two behind Horsfield.
“It [the performance] wasn’t the best,” Horsfield said. “I made some really silly mistakes and I definitely had a lot of adrenaline running through me, so I was hitting some shots that were going so far.
“I know Foxy really well, he’s a great dude, so it’s going to be fun and it’s going to be really good to battle with him. He definitely hits it far, so there will definitely be some long drives and hopefully we’ll play well and have some fun.”
Germany’s Yannik Paul sat alone in third on nine under following a 68, with compatriot Marcel Schneider, Fabrizio Zanotti, Kearney and Oliver Bekker all on eight under.
Zanotti’s 65 was the lowest score of the day and lifted the 38-year-old from Paraguay 36 places up the leaderboard.
In glorious conditions at Rinkven International GC, Fox took a while to warm up as he covered the first 10 holes in level par after cancelling out a bogey on the third with a birdie on the next.
But with five birdies on the back nine, he raced home in 30 strokes to move ahead of Horsfield, who had started the day sharing the lead with compatriot Dale Whitnell and Germany’s Matti Schmid.
“I played really solid on the back nine, didn’t miss a shot, holed a couple of putts as well,” Fox said. “I hope I’ve figured something out after a couple of scrappy drives early in the round and it felt pretty good from that tenth hole on, so hopefully I can take that into tomorrow.”
Horsfield shot four birdies in a second successive two-under-par 69.
Whitnell and Schmid both dug deep to shoot rounds of 72 and remain in contention on seven under par along with Paul Waring, Robin Roussel, Andy Sullivan, Chase Hanna and Jorge Campillo.
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Ireland's Niall Kearney three off the lead at the Soudal Open
NEW ZEALAND’S RYAN Fox powered into pole position to win his second DP World Tour title of the season at the 2022 Soudal Open in Antwerp.
The in-form Kiwi carded a third-round of 66 on Saturday to reach 11 under par, a shot ahead of England’s Sam Horsfield.
But it has been the performances of Dubliner Niall Kearney that has really caught the eye.
Ranked a lowly 176 on the DP Tour, Kearney has played superbly this week. While his driving has been consistently good, every aspect of his game has been on song in Belgium. He began the tournament with a 69, followed that up with a four-under round of 67 yesterday and then posted another 69 today.
Key to that run was his front nine – where he recorded three birdies, at the par-3 second, the par-5 fifth and the par-four eighth. Only a bogey on 10 blotted his card.
He is three shots behind Fox, two behind Horsfield.
“It [the performance] wasn’t the best,” Horsfield said. “I made some really silly mistakes and I definitely had a lot of adrenaline running through me, so I was hitting some shots that were going so far.
“I know Foxy really well, he’s a great dude, so it’s going to be fun and it’s going to be really good to battle with him. He definitely hits it far, so there will definitely be some long drives and hopefully we’ll play well and have some fun.”
Germany’s Yannik Paul sat alone in third on nine under following a 68, with compatriot Marcel Schneider, Fabrizio Zanotti, Kearney and Oliver Bekker all on eight under.
Zanotti’s 65 was the lowest score of the day and lifted the 38-year-old from Paraguay 36 places up the leaderboard.
In glorious conditions at Rinkven International GC, Fox took a while to warm up as he covered the first 10 holes in level par after cancelling out a bogey on the third with a birdie on the next.
But with five birdies on the back nine, he raced home in 30 strokes to move ahead of Horsfield, who had started the day sharing the lead with compatriot Dale Whitnell and Germany’s Matti Schmid.
“I played really solid on the back nine, didn’t miss a shot, holed a couple of putts as well,” Fox said. “I hope I’ve figured something out after a couple of scrappy drives early in the round and it felt pretty good from that tenth hole on, so hopefully I can take that into tomorrow.”
Horsfield shot four birdies in a second successive two-under-par 69.
Whitnell and Schmid both dug deep to shoot rounds of 72 and remain in contention on seven under par along with Paul Waring, Robin Roussel, Andy Sullivan, Chase Hanna and Jorge Campillo.
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Niall Kearney On song Soudal Open