Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier has charged up the leaderboard in his first weekend of a major championship, turning in a three-under-par 68 in his third round at The Open to sit in a tie for 15th with one round to play.
This week’s tournament on the links atRoyal Troon in Scotland has proved to be a testing stage for some of the best golfers in the world, however Hillier has played a good tournament so far – first making the cut for the first time in four majors he has played, before impressing on Saturday night.
Paired alongside Australian veteran and 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott in an early tee time, Hillier got to work early, carding two birdies on the front nine then adding two more late on the back nine. A five on the par-four 12th was the only blemish on his scorecard for the round, with his three-under score seeing him jump 45 places on the leaderboard. He’s two-over for the tournament, six shots off the pace.
In reflecting on his round, Hillier said the surprisingly pleasant conditions worked in his favour.
“It was nice. It’s a lot nicer when it’s not blowing 40[km/h] out there, as well. Those first nine holes are a lot easier, to be fair. [I] Managed to play them pretty solidly, get a couple of good birdies early on, and kept it rolling from there,” Hillier said.
“I’m not sure what the conditions are like tomorrow, but I can’t imagine they’ll get any better than this. [It’s] nice to put a good score on the board, and fingers crossed it’s pretty similar conditions tomorrow and [I can] try to take advantage of them again.”
It was a different scene to conditions in the second round, when the wind caused havoc on the field, particularly for those with later tee times. The likes of Tony Finau, Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland were among those to have their struggles during the first two rounds and all missed the cut.
Hillier said he felt he had some advantages in dealing with the wind, having learned his craft in Wellington.
“Adaptability is huge. I was lucky enough to grow up in Wellington, which is renowned as one of the windiest cities in the world, so I’ve learned how to control the ball flight a bit more out there and hit different shots, and I think that’s a big part of getting around these golf courses is you can’t just hit your stock golf shot. When it’s blowing like that, you’ve got to be able to work the ball and either hold it against the wind check or turn it with it,” he said.
“Obviously, it takes a lot of practice and a bit of exposure to get it done, and [I’m] pretty thankful to have had that.”
Fellow Kiwi Ryan Fox was among those who teed off later in the day to struggle, turning in a five-over-par 67. Fox went without a birdie in his round, with three bogeys and one double to fall 20 spots down the leaderboard into a tie for 70th.
At the top, American Billy Horschel took over the outright lead with his two-under round moving him to four-under for the tournament. Overnight leader Shane Lowry shot six-over for his third round to drop to ninth at one-under.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
