Arjun Atwal hung on to a spot inside the top 20 at the Barracuda Championships, after a sedate round which yielded just six points. Geoff Ogilvy covered a six point spread in Texas – working his way to the head of the leader board after an exciting third round at the Montreux Golf and Country Club. The former US Open champion was three back at the start of the day, but gained 12 points during the day to gain a three point lead over Jason Allred and Nick Watney.
John Mallinger stole the show with a sensational tournament record effort, seven birdies and an eagle earning the American a whopping 19 points from the third round. Mallinger, whose combined result from the first two rounds was a meagre nine points, jumped 55 spots into T5 at the end of Saturday.
“In this format, you get five points obviously you’re right back in the tournament,” said Mallinger, after improving on the 18 set by Jonathan Byrd last year and emulated by Watney in the first round.
Atwal started the day on 17 points and kept it very steady through the first nine. But the modified Stableford system rewards risk, so nine consecutive pars could do nothing to move the Indian forward. Atwal gained two points at the 12th, but squandered one with a bogey at the par-4 15th hole. The needle swung for Atwal when he finished the round with a 43 yard putt from the first cut to the right of the 18th hole.
Ogilvy enjoyed a lucky break at the 18th when he made birdie from the greenside bunker to finish the round with 35 points. Allred, three points behind the leader, went past the front nine collecting 9 points. His run was halted by a pair of bogeys at 11 and 12, but an eagle from 122 yards on the 15th hole and a couple of other birdies helped him collect 14 points for his round.
Ogilvy was weary of getting too complacent, given the rewards of the scoring system. “Someone can have 20 points,” Ogilvy warned. “So that means I still have to score a bunch of points just to stay in front of the guys who are close. So I just go out and play as well as I can. Hopefully, it goes well.”
