Playing out of the sixth-to-last pairing, non-member and World No. 126 Justin Harding backed up with an even-par 34-36=70 in the third round of The 149th Open, dropping two places to T9 on 6-under 204, six in arrears of past champ, leader and countryman Louis Oosthuizen (69).
The South African is a two-time winner on the European Tour in 109 events, most recently this season’s Magical Kenya Open in March 12 starts ago, an event he finished co-runner-up at last season. His career-TOUR-best in 19 events is T10 at the 2019 Byron Nelson in his tourney debut and on a Commissioner’s Exemption, while his best in eight previous majors, and lone top 25, is T12 at the 2019 Masters in his event debut, where he was T7 after 54 holes (69-69-70-72). Today, the Lamar Univ. product traded three birdies with three bogeys on 10 (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation. He’ll play out of the fifth-to-last twosome on Sunday with Aussie Cameron Smith (68).