12 March 2021: Darren Fichardt has a taste for success in the sands of Doha. It has been 18 long years since he won first in Doha, but those memories ought to ease his nerves as he tucks into bed with a one-stroke advantage after 54 holes. The South African is atop the leaderboard at 7-under 235. Gaganjeet Bhullar took full advantage of an earlier start, keeping his ball in shape on a windy day. The Indian produced a determined 68 to jump into third place, on a day when there were just four cards under par. Antoine Rozner leaped the farthest on Saturday, shooting up 35 spots to fourth alongside Joachim Hansen and Jamie Donaldson.
Bhullar made three birdies on the front nine to gain on the field. The golfer from Chandigarh fired three in four holes from the third as he mounted an ambitious climb on Saturday. His lone lapse came on the par-3 12th hole, but he made amends with a fine birdie on the 16th hole to secure the three stroke advantage he picked up on the way out. At five under, Bhullar is just two shots off the pace. The 32-year-old was only finding 57% of the fairways and made just half the greens in regulation. But his scrambling was a top notch 89% and he needed just 24 putts on an impressive day around the course.
“I had a good start to the tournament, four under on day one was pretty solid. Yesterday I hit the ball pretty good and gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities. I made a few silly mistakes in the beginning, but played well on the back nine. That was the time when the wind picked up. I had a feeling of confidence that I could play well in the wind,” said Bhullar.
“Today from the first hole it was gusting and howling pretty much the whole day. I hit the ball well and gave myself a lot of opportunities, I drove the ball okay and didn’t miss too many fairways. The main target was to keep the ball in play and make sure I was hitting a lot of my shots in regulation to stay in the game.”
Shubhankar Sharma is the only other Indian left in the field after SSP Chawrasia missed out of the weekend action. Playing under blustery winds, Sharma had to endure a triple bogey seven and three other bogeys. In the end, he ought to take the 75 on his chin and expect a better final round. It took three birdies and plenty of patience to work his way to 1-over around the course in trying conditions.
First round leader David Law suffered further disappointment. The Scot started the week with a blistering 64, but has since made two scores of 75 to slip into T28 alongside Sharma.
Fichardt had a double and two bogeys, but he also extracted five birdies to score a fighting 70 to snatch the lead. Overnight leader Jeff Winther saw his hopes dissipate in the winds as he slipped to tenth with seven other golfers, signing on a 77.
“When I started today I couldn’t get the pace right, the greens sped up significantly with the wind. I was three-whacking like it was going out of fashion, on every green. Luckily I figured my swing out on the range before I teed off. I said to my wife to give ourselves opportunities and to try and get our first putt past the hole. When they started dropping I started to get a nice rhythm and a nice flow,” said Fichardt.
“Then I got to the par five 13 – that’s a hell of a par five, plus wind. I walked off there making a double and felt a bit out of sorts. I three-whacked the next green. I tried to gather my thoughts and realise it’s tough out there, everyone was struggling and to try and finish with a couple of pars coming home – luckily I got two birdies.”
Rozner shares fourth with Joachim B. Hansen of Denmark and Welshman Jamie Donaldson on four under par.
Round Three Scores:
206 D FICHARDT (RSA) 68 68 70,
207 J SENIOR (ENG) 68 68 71,
208 G BHULLAR (IND) 67 73 68,
209 A ROZNER (FRA) 69 72 68, J HANSEN (DEN) 66 71 72, J DONALDSON (WAL) 68 68 73,
210 T DETRY (BEL) 66 72 72, C PAISLEY (ENG) 67 70 73, B STONE (RSA) 69 68 73,
211 J CAMPILLO (ESP) 67 74 70, R MCEVOY (ENG) 65 73 73, L GAGLI (ITA) 68 70 73, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 70 68 73, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 67 70 74, N BERTASIO (ITA) 65 72 74, K KITAYAMA (USA) 67 69 75, J WINTHER (DEN) 67 67 77,
212 J VEERMAN (USA) 71 69 72, Y CHANG (KOR) 70 71 71, S NORRIS (RSA) 69 70 73, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 69 73, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 71 67 74, M PAVON (FRA) 68 69 75,
213 D WHITNELL (ENG) 68 72 73, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 69 72 72, M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72 72, T PIETERS (BEL) 68 69 76,
214 G FORREST (SCO) 71 68 75, S SHARMA (IND) 71 68 75, D LAW (SCO) 64 75 75, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 69 72 73, S CROCKER (USA) 68 73 73, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 66 72 76, N LEMKE (SWE) 70 72 72, S JAMIESON (SCO) 67 71 76, G HIGGO (RSA) 66 71 77, J SMITH (ENG) 69 74 71, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 65 71 78, A LEVY (FRA) 71 72 71,
215 R LANGASQUE (FRA) 70 70 75, L DE JAGER (RSA) 68 72 75, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 69 71 75, J CATLIN (USA) 70 70 75, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 69 70 76, D DRYSDALE (SCO) 70 72 73, J WALTERS (RSA) 73 70 72,
216 C WOOD (ENG) 73 68 75, H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 65 74 77, C SYME (SCO) 69 72 75, R SANTOS (POR) 71 71 74, M KIEFFER (GER) 67 75 74, R ENOCH (WAL) 69 74 73, D COUPLAND (ENG) 69 74 73, S BROWN (ENG) 69 74 73, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 69 74 73,
217 W NIENABER (RSA) 69 71 77, W BESSELING (NED) 72 69 76, G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP) 69 70 78, P FIGUEIREDO (POR) 67 74 76, M SCHWAB (AUT) 71 71 75,
218 A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 70 76, B HEBERT (FRA) 71 72 75,
219 A BJ?RK (SWE) 68 73 78, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 73 78, N ELVIRA (ESP) 69 73 77,
220 T TREE (ENG) 67 75 78, R RAMSAY (SCO) 69 74 77, C SHARVIN (NIR) 70 73 77,
221 A CA?IZARES (ESP) 73 69 79, R ROCK (ENG) 72 71 78,
222 J SURI (USA) 70 68 84,
223 M KINHULT (SWE) 70 73 80