by “Where to start?”
Matt Wallace had maintained his four-shot lead at the Omega European Masters but the Englishman was still licking his wounds after a 3-over-par 73 in windy conditions on Saturday at Golf Club de Crans-sur-Sierre in Crans Montana, Switzerland.
“Brutal, really tough,” Wallace said of a day that saw wind gusts around 35 mph and produced a scoring average of 74.14, nearly six shots better than each of the first two rounds, which produced averages below 68. Only three players had under par — Jonas Blixt’s 68 led the way — and 11 of the 18 holes had six or fewer birdies.
“Today was not really about playing under par, it was about maintaining my lead, and that’s what I did,” added Wallace, who at 11 under par leads Alfredo Garcia-Heredia at 7 under, “and I’m going to try to put my ego aside with that score of 3 under par, which I don’t like at all with that kind of score.”
He was not alone.
England’s Jordan Smith crashed out of contention with a third-round 77 and now sits nine shots behind Wallace in 17th place. After his round, Smith spoke to X to share his frustration with the DP World Tour preparation team.
“A day to forget, but a day to forget for the @DPWorldTour officials,” Smith wrote in a tweet, which was shared and/or liked by several DPWT players. “These greens are by far the fastest ever, yet they still decide to use the same pins as the old ones, plus with strong winds today. Even with the perfect conditions yesterday, some of the pins were ridiculous.”
A day to forget but a day to remember @DPWorldTour The umpires must forget. Fastest greens ever, but they still decide to use the same pins as the old ones, plus the strong winds today. Even with the perfect conditions yesterday, a few pins were ridiculous.
— Jordan Smith (@Jsmithgolf) September 7, 2024
Smith had his best score on the par-4 12th hole, the toughest hole of the tour, with just five birdies and 14 double bogeys or worse, one more than he had in the first two rounds combined. Smith hit his approach shot into the water and made a double bogey, which was later upgraded to a quadruple bogey after two penalty strokes were added (the DPWT did not release information on why Smith was penalized).
And yet Smith’s “8” wasn’t even the craziest result on the 12th hole. Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen hit the green in regulation and holed a 16-yard birdie putt to a hole on the front right. However, his putt hit the slope and rolled into the water. After missing a 11.5-yard putt, von Dellingshausen left the green with a triple bogey.
Wallace pointed to the par-4 17th hole, which yielded just two birdies compared to a combined total of 58 in the first two rounds.
“Potentially impossible?” Wallace said of the penultimate hole. “I remember saying to Jamie [Lang, my caddie]”Maybe I could hit a short shot?” But you don’t think like that. Looking back, we’re incredible golfers, but I have to say we did some great things up and down. I didn’t think I’d be able to do things like that up and down.
Andrew Johnston and Henrik Norlander are tied for third at 6 under while Edoardo Molinari, Alex Fitzpatrick, Jason Scrivener and Cedric Gugler make up the group at 5 under.
Said Gugler from Switzerland: “I have never seen a wind like this before.”
