Rose & Warren Share Top Spot in Scottish Open


An Englishman and a Scot will be in the final round's last group of the Scottish Open. Justin Rose fired a 5-under 66 at Royal Aberdeen and local favorite Marc Warren a 67 as both took a share of the 54-hole lead at 10-under 203 in the European Tour event.

Rose the 2013 U.S. Open champion, got off to a slow start with one birdie and eight pars on the front nine. On the home half, however, the 33-year-old, South African-born Brit tacked on five more birdies and a bogey.

Rose won in the States two weeks ago in the Quicken Loans National, edging Shawn Stefani in a playoff for his sixth PGA Tour title. He said it's taken some time to get acclimated to the Scottish links. "I came here on Wednesday and felt absolutely horrendous, but the last couple of days I have been finding my feet again and that's part of the reason for playing here," Rose told reporters.

"Today and my second round at Congressional are two of the best rounds I have played all year. I'm really happy with the way the game has progressed throughout the week.

"It would be great to win tomorrow. I'm on a nice run at the moment and to keep it going would be fantastic. I'm still really enjoying the links golf and I think that's what I came here to do, just keep playing the game and keep trying to work out the shots.

"But obviously there will come a point tomorrow where you have to win a golf tournament," Rose added. "I'm looking forward to it. I said at the beginning of the week, just to be in contention this week and sharpening your skills under pressure will be a fantastic opportunity going into the Open next week."

Warren, a 33-year-old with two European victories, opened with a 67 followed by a 69 and another 67. He's looking forward to Sunday's match-up with Rose.

"It was a little bit scrappy towards the end there, but I'm tied going into tomorrow and playing with a major champion. I'm in a great position, a very exciting position as well. For us Scottish guys it doesn't get much better than this. It's our fifth major. I've been in this situation before, so once the gun goes I'll be ready to do my job.

"Winning's never easy. It always seems to be the most difficult thing, but if you're going to go through a couple of tough holes, it's great to have the home fans behind you, just give that you the one percent that you need to go over the finishing line."

One stroke back of the co-leaders is Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg, who carded a 68, while three behind is England's Tyrrell Hatton (66). Scotland's Craig Lee (66) and Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez (71) share fifth at 207.

Spain's Pablo Larrazabal (66), Ireland's Shane Lowry (68) and Finland's Mikko Ilonen (69) are tied for seventh at 208.

After starting out with a tournament-leading 64, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy rebounded from a 78 in the second round with a 68 to rise into a tie for 13th at 210 with Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen (70) and Americans Rickie Fowler and John Hahn, who each recorded 68s.

After the winds that regularly sweep across the ancient links course alongside the North Sea made a complete reversal between the first and second rounds, McIlroy told reporters later that scoring chances were a bit more amenable on Saturday. "The conditions are certainly easier than they were yesterday," the two-time major champion noted.

"The breeze isn't up as much and they have actually moved a few of the tee boxes up on the back nine as well, which makes it a bit easier. But yeah, the front nine is the nine that you've got to sort of try to make your score on still and hang on a little bit on the back, but not quite as much as (Friday)."

Phil Mickelson carded a 70 and is among nine players at 2-under 211. Lefty, who won the 2013 Scottish Open in advance of his long-awaited victory in the British Open a week later, is hopeful he can make a run at the leaders. "I need a really low round (Sunday)," said the 44-year-old, who heads to the Open Championship next week at Royal Liverpool where he'll also be the defending champion.

"It's going to have to be 8 or 9 under par. But I think it's out there and I'll be off early enough to maybe make some noise. But I've got to play a great front nine. I've let some of the holes on the front nine slide by and I've got to get off to a hot start."

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