Rio Olympics 2016, Golf: SSP Chawrasia offers hope of a medal before fizzling out, Rickie Fowler steals the show on day 3
Day 3 of Olympic Golf saw plenty of chopping and changing as the leader group distanced themselves from the rest of the pack. The day also saw a number of pre-tournament favourites step up and perform to the best of their abilities.
At the head of the pack was Great Britian’s Justin Rose. He had a terrific day, racking up birdie after birdie on the way to his round of -6 under par 65. He is now at -12 under par, one stroke ahead of Henrik Stenson, who has remained impressive throughout and is hot on his tail.
Marcus Fraser of Australia did not enjoy the best of days, but still remains close to the top of the leaderboard due to his impressive performance on day 1. He is now at -9 under par overall and 3 shots behind the lead.
SSP Chawrasia offered a glimmer of hope briefly as he started day 3 in red-hot fashion. He had a hot putter and birdied his way to -4 under par with 2 holes to play. He would go on to record 2 bogeys to finish the day and dampen India’s hopes of a medal, ending the day at 22nd place . Until those two birdies, he was within 5 shots of a bronze medal going into the last day.
Anirban Lahiri endured another torrid day at the Olympic Golf Course. Having a much earlier start and with pristine conditions of golf, much was expected of Anirban as he recorded a birdie on the 3rd hole. It would prove to be his only bright spot in the day as he ended at +4 over par for the day and +9 overall in 57th place.
The day however belonged to American Rickie Fowler. One of the game’s prodigious talents brought his A-game to the golf course today as he put in a scorching round of -7 under par. After the front 9, he was -6 under par but could not sustain his momentum in the latter half of the day.