Poulter lead washed away in Turkey after more bad weather
Ian Poulter let slip a six-shot lead in rain-soaked conditions at the Turkish Open as the Englishman searches for his first European Tour victory in two years.
Thunderstorms prevented the completion of Friday’s second round, with Poulter then three shots clear of the field, but he emerged early Saturday to birdie the 15th and par the remainder for a six-shot advantage over his rivals at 14-under-par.
However, the quick turnaround for round three appeared to be the Englishman’s undoing. Two bogeys in his opening nine holes were split by a birdie at the fourth, before he made a further bogey, double bogey and birdie on his back nine.
That meant Poulter closed with a third-round 75 and dropped back to 11-under overall.
“It’s brought obviously a lot of players back into the fray,” Poulter said. “Their dinner is going to taste lovely tonight and mine is going to taste horrible.
“I’m most angry about the wedge shot which led to a double [bogey, at the 15th]. That’s inexcusable for me to make that error right there. A simple wedge shot puts me to 20 feet with an outside birdie look at worst, and I hit the tree, so I’m going to be angry about that for a little while tonight and then I’ll be fine tomorrow.
“I’m going to get my head down and do the job tomorrow. Today was really disappointing to be out of rhythm after playing such great golf.”
Wade Ormsby leads the pack at 12-under following a 4-under round of 68, while both Lee Westwood and Marcel Siem enjoyed low rounds for a share of second place.
Westwood made five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in his 5-under round while Siem hit seven birdies and a solitary bogey in his 6-under third round.
Brooks Koepka and Danny Willett remain a further shot back at 10-under overall, with Miguel Angel Jimenez 9-under-par after his third round of 71. Sergio Garcia enjoyed a superb round of 65, including eight birdies, but is off the pace at 5-under.
Earlier on Saturday, Poulter managed to capture the inclement weather on his camera:
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Feeds: ESPN staff
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
