“Where do I start?”
Matt Wallace had held onto his four-shot lead at the Omega European Masters, yet the Englishman was still licking some wounds after a 3-over 73 in windy conditions Saturday at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, Switzerland.
“Brutal, really hard,” Wallace said of a day that saw wind gusts around 35 mph and yielded a scoring average of 74.14, nearly six shots higher than each of the first two rounds, which produced averages in the low 68s. Just three players broke par – Jonas Blixt’s 68 led the way – and 11 of the 18 holes had six or fewer birdies made on them.
“Today wasn’t about really shooting under par, it was about keeping my lead, and I did that,” added Wallace, who at 11 under sits ahead of Alfredo Garcia-Heredia at 7 under, “and I will try and take the ego out of the 3 over, which I’m not happy about those type of scores.”
He wasn’t alone.
England’s Jordan Smith plummeted from contention with a third-round 77 and is now nine shots back of Wallace in a tie for 17th. After his round, Smith took to X to share his frustration with the DP World Tour’s setup team.
“A day to forget, but a day for the @DPWorldTour refs to forget,” Smith wrote in a tweet, which was shared and/or liked by several DPWT players. “The quickest these greens have ever been by far, but they still decide to use the same pins as old, plus with high winds today. Even with the perfect conditions yesterday, a few of the pins were ridiculous.”
A day to forget but a day for the @DPWorldTour refs to forget. The quickest these greens have ever been by far but they still decide to use the same pins as old plus with high winds today. Even with the perfect conditions yesterday a few of the pins were ridiculous.
— Jordan Smith (@Jsmithgolf) September 7, 2024
Smith’s biggest number came at the par-4 12th, the round’s most difficult hole with just five birdies and a whopping 14 double bogeys or worse, one more than the first two rounds combined. Smith hit his approach shot into the water and carded a double bogey, which was later changed to a quadruple bogey after two penalty strokes were added (the DPWT did not release any information on why Smith was penalized).
And yet, Smith’s ‘8’ wasn’t even the craziest result at No. 12. Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen hit the green in regulation and had a 54-foot birdie putt back to a front-right hole location. However, his putt caught the slope and rolled into the water. After chipping on and missing a 38-footer, von Dellingshausen walked off the green with a triple bogey.
Wallace pointed out the par-4 17th hole, which yielded just two birdies compared to a combined 58 in the first two rounds.
“Potentially impossible?” Wallace said of the penultimate hole. “I remember saying to Jamie [Lang, my caddie], ‘Maybe land it short?’ But you don’t think like that. We are unbelievable golfers in hindsight, but what a great up-and-down I must say. I didn’t think I would get 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 comprise the group at 5 under.
Said Gugler, a Switzerland native: “I’ve never seen wind like that before.”