Sungjae Im and Byung-hoon Ahn closed the gap on the leaders on the third day of the 152nd British Open (The Open) golf tournament, which was played in heavy rain and strong winds.
The South Korean shot a 5-under 66 with one bogey and six birdies in the third round of the tournament at Royal Troon Golf Club (Par 71) in South Ayrshire, Scotland, on Monday (Sept. 21).
With a midday total of 1-under par 214, Lim moved into a tie for 13th place with Ahn and closed the gap on leader Billy Horschel (USA) to five strokes at 4-under par 209.
Six players, including Zander Schauffele (USA) and Sam Burns (USA), are tied for second at 3-under 201, one stroke back of Horschel.
Eleven players are within four shots of the leader, including the second-place group, setting up a fierce battle for the title on the final day.
World No. 1 Scotty Schauffler (USA) also remains in contention for an upset victory, tied for eighth at 2-under par 202.
Lim struggled to find the fairways and hit the greens, but once he had a birdie opportunity, he didn’t let it slip away. Lim hit 63% of his putts inside 3 meters and 46% of his putts inside 6 meters.
After three consecutive birdies on Nos. 3 through 5, Lim shaved five strokes off his score in the first half of the tournament, but he had his first bogey of the third round on the 14th hole (par-3) when he dropped his tee shot into a bunker next to the green.
However, he sank a birdie putt of more than 12 meters on the 18th hole (par-4) to get back on track in the fourth round.
Ahn Byung-hoon also stayed in contention with an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys to cut three strokes off his total.
Ahn started his day with an eagle on the sixth hole (par-5), hitting his tee shot 365 yards and then hitting his second shot to 2.7 meters from the hole.
Ahn added a birdie on the ninth (par-4) to even the score, but his tee shot on the 10th (par-4) went into the rough and his second shot on the 12th (par-4) went over the green, resulting in a bogey.
Ahn bounced back with a birdie on the 13th (par-4), but missed the green on the 17th (par-3) and hit a 34-yard chip shot for another stroke.
Kim Si-woo made a splash on the 238-yard par-3 17th hole, hitting a 3-iron off the tee and into the hole.
Kim’s hole-in-one was the longest hole-in-one in The Open’s history. The previous record was a 212-yard hole-in-one by Frank Rickliter (USA) in the 2001 tournament at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
“I’ve made several hole-in-ones before, but this will be my most memorable,” said Kim.
Kim played an up-and-down round, but the hole-in-one helped her card an even-par 71 to finish the third round in a tie for 40th place at 5-over par 218.
Kim Min-kyu is tied for 25th at 3-over par 216, while Wang Jung-hoon is tied for 62nd at 8-over par 221. 메이저사이트