2024 Senior Open presented by Rolex: KJ Choi retains lead after wild finish to third round at Carnoustie

Carnoustie, Scotland; 27 July 2024, by Matt Hooper: KJ Choi will head into Sunday’s final round of the 37th Senior Open Championship with a one-shot lead after making a spectacular birdie on the 18th, breaking the tie with Australian Richard Green. But it could have been so different. The road to winning a major title is often filled with pitfalls along the way, and that could certainly be the case for KJ. He bogeyed the 18th hole on both Thursday and Friday, but it was that hole which came to his rescue on Saturday evening after a remarkable stumble in the middle of the back nine.

The Korean surged away from the chasing pack on the front nine with birdies at 3, 4, 5 and 6, before bogeying the 7th, reaching -9 at the turn, opening up a four stroke lead. That lead grew to six through 14 holes, and it certainly felt like he had sucked the life out of the championship, on a day which seemed ideal for scoring, but that was seeing the chasing pack stumble in the wake of the charge from the leader. But this sport is never predictable, and just as it seemed like Choi was set to head into the final round with a commanding lead he inexplicably stumbled.

On the intimidating par four 15th he pulled his drive left of the fairway, ending up in gnarly heather, and on the iconic par three 16th he found the left greenside bunker, both, dramatically resulted in double bogeys. Remarkably Choi’s lead, which at one point was six, was now gone. In a show of strength and character he bounced back at the 18th with a towering hybrid into the green, and rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt to retain the lead.

Richard Green surged into serious contention with a fine back nine of 33, his lowest nine of the week, moving him to 7-under-par for the championship. The 3-time Legends Tour winner is third on the Order of Merit, and has finished in the top five of the most recent two Senior Majors, the US Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship.

Arjun Atwal is an outlier when it comes to the contenders, never really showing previous form around Carnoustie, but a fine back nine on Saturday, capped with a spectacular birdie putt on the 18th have put him right in the mix.

Angel Cabrera has endured a well-publicized fall from grace in recent years, being released from prison in August 2023, but to see him swing and the way he plays you would never know he had been behind bars and away from the game for the best part of three years. His experience at Carnoustie, and ability to drive his ball long and straight, and win on tough courses (Oakmont and Augusta to name a couple) could stand him in good stead for the final round.

Padraig Harrington’s hopes of adding a historic Senior Open title at Carnoustie to The Open he won here in 2007 are still alive, but only just after a bizarre Saturday round which included five bogeys and four birdies, the last of which came at the 18th. At one point he was as many as 10 strokes off the lead on the back nine on Saturday, he will begin the final round 6 back, which is the same number as he was behind Sergio Garcia when he won in 2007.

As we head into the final round the leaderboard has many examples of experience being critical around the Championship Links at Carnoustie. KJ Choi finished in a tie for eighth place in the 2007 Open here, Richard Green finished tied for fourth at the same championship. Paul Broadhurst was tied for third place through 54 holes in 2007 too and won the 2016 Senior Open, and Angel Cabrera finished 1 shot out of the playoff in 1999 when Paul Lawrie won The Open. Of course Harrington won the 2007 Open, and has played the course numerous times in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which he has won twice too.

If you were having a bet on the outcome this afternoon you would surely plump for one of these experienced Carnoustie campaigners, as they have proven they can deal with the challenges thrown up by this ultimate links test.

Round Three Leaderboard:

KJ Choi -8

Richard Green -7

Arjun Atwal -6

Paul Broadhurst -4

Angel Cabrera -3

Padraig Harrington, Stephen Ames -2

Stephen Alker, Miguel Angel Martin -1

Final Round selected tee-times:

12.20pm Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn

12.30pm Joakim Haeggman, Greg Chalmers

12.45pm Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie

12.55pm Ricardo Gonzalez, Miguel Angel Martin

1.05pm Steven Alker, Stephen Ames

1.15pm Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera

1.25pm Paul Broadhurst, Arjun Atwal

1.35pm Richard Green, KJ Choi

SHANK, by Matt Hooper

Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association