RICKIE Fowler's bid to follow his stunning victory in the Players Championship with another in the Irish Open effectively ended with a nightmare finish to his third round.
Fowler, who was part of the victorious United States team in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down, began the day just three shots off the lead and looked to have kept his hopes alive when he chipped in for an eagle on the 16th. However, the world No 9 then lost a ball off the tee on the 17th and ran up a quadruple-bogey eight, before driving out of bounds on the par-5 18th to card another eight and a round of 76.
That was in stark contrast to the birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie finish which got him into a play-off at Sawgrass this month, the 26-year-old going to beat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner in a play-off.
At five over par, Fowler was 13 shots behind leader Soren Kjeldsen, who had surged clear of the field thanks to three birdies on the front nine and three more in a row from the 11th, before dropping his first shot of the day on the 17th.
At eight under par Kjeldsen was two ahead of Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello, with Germany's Max Kieffer another stroke back after setting a course record with a superb 65.
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