RangeGoats Uihlein leads LIV Golf stars after Int'l Series England Rd. 3
SURREY, England - RangeGoats GC's Peter Uihlein has put himself in position to win for the first time on the Asian Tour - and The International Series - after holding onto the lead through the third round of International Series England.
The leader at the start of the day chipped in for a birdie on the par-five 18th on the Longcross course at Foxhills Club & Resort, in Surrey, for a two-under 69, which left him at 12 under with a one-shot lead over fellow American and LIV Golf League star, 4Aces GC's Harold Varner III, at the $2 million (US) event.
Varner fired a 65 and is a stroke ahead of Cleeks GC's Richard Bland, in with a 68, and Legion XIII's Caleb Surratt, who carded a 69.
“It was a bit up and down today,” said Uihlein, who has twice been part of a winning team in LIV Golf, and finished runner-up on the individual leaderboard four times.
“I feel like I hit a lot of greens until the end. I missed one green early and made double, and then feel like I hit pretty much every green until 15, so I sort of had a run going.
“And then I missed technically four [greens] straight coming in, so that was fun. But was able to salvage a little bit, which was nice. So yeah, it was a bit of an up and down, made some nice putts at the end, missed some putts kind of in middle of the round, so it kind of offset each other.”
In his 13-year career as a professional he has won on three occasions, once on the DP World Tour and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, so a first victory on the Asian Tour tomorrow would be a significant milestone.
He added: “Yeah, a win would be nice. You know, it’s not been my best year since joining LIV, so it’s nice to kind of build some momentum with our final events coming up. And then I’m going to play a few more on the International Series after that, so it will put me in a good position which is nice.”
Uihlein made five birdies, including three in a row from the eighth, a double and one bogey.
Varner, already a winner on the Asian Tour having claimed the Saudi International at the beginning of 2022, went bogey-free today en route to shooting the lowest round of the day.
He said: “I shot six under par, so it was good. There’s another day, so just need to keep doing what I’m doing. I feel like I’m playing well. Just control that part of it.
“No bogeys today and only three total for the week. I think I am driving it pretty well, getting up and down in a few places and just, you know, giving myself a lot of looks. Pretty stress-free right now, but it won’t be tomorrow.”
Bland, in the spotlight this year having claimed two senior majors on the Champions Tour – the Senior PGA Championship and the US Senior Open – made birdie on four of the last five to storm through at the end.
“If I am being completely honest, I am struggling with my golf swing,” said the 51-year-old, who lives just 10 minutes away.
“I need to find it. I find it on the range, but I am not taking it onto the golf course, certainly with the driver. The last four or five holes, I won’t say what I said to myself, which was basically just get up and hit it. Stop thinking about it. Hit it hard and it seemed to go in the right direction, so I will use that philosophy tomorrow.”
After a poor tee shot on the 10th, Bland lost his cool and snapped the shaft of his three wood.
He added: “I do need to find a new three wood. Just for four or five holes I was struggling. I have been trying to find a golf swing with a driver for about a month now. I can’t remember when I last broke a club through temper. I was frustrated and I bent the shaft, don’t know my own strength. I wasn’t trying to break it. I apologize to the fans for that.”
Surratt led for much of the day but made double bogey on both the 15th, where he found water, and 16, after a hooked tee shot.
Canadian Richard T. Lee (66) is in solo fifth, three behind the frontrunner, with England’s Andy Sullivan (67), Sadom Kaewkanjana (68) from Thailand and England’s Richard Dinwiddie (72) another stroke back.