Day three digest: 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Everything you need to know from the third round in Northern Ireland.

Aaron was on the rise, Maverick was flying too, Karlberg produced the round of the day and mooooving day was taken to a whole new level on Saturday at the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Here is everything you need to know from day three in Ballymena.

The rise and rise of Aaron

Aaron Rai had a share of the lead after rounds one and two and after a 67 in his third round, he had eked out a one shot advantage at eight under. The Englishman knows a thing or two about leading, having won wire-to-wire at the 2019 Honma Hong Kong Open presented by Amundi, and he would love to add another of the European Tour's most storied titles to his CV. "Any title on the European Tour is fantastic, the Irish Open has an illustrious history, it's a huge event, it always has been," he said. "I want to put that out of my mind going into tomorrow. There’s still a lot of significance to it. I'll just hope to try and do the same kind of things and see where it puts us."

Maverick flying high after beautiful morning

After a 90 minute delay due to frost at the start of day two, 27 players were left to complete their second rounds on Saturday morning, with Maverick Antcliff having more work to do than most having gone out in the penultimate group. The 2019 China Golf Tour Order of Merit winner had eight holes remaining and quickly birdied the 11th and 13th to join Rai at the top of the leaderboard. Bogeys on the 14th and 15th followed but the 27-year-old made and eagle from seven feet on the par five last to card a 65 and once again sit at the top of the pile after 36 holes. He followed that up with a 68 and is just one back as he looks for a first European Tour title. Quite a 26 holes from the rookie. "It was pretty solid, an early start this morning and having to restart, having to refocus," he said. "The birdie on the first helped calm the nerves and I just tried to work my way into the round."

Karlberg finding his groove again

When Rikard Karlberg holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the 2019 Qualifying School Final Stage to earn the last card, it felt like the entire European Tour was smiling. The Swede took down two time Major Champion Martin Kaymer in a play-off to win the 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI in 2015 but since then has battled injury and depression, missing the entire 2018 season. A 65 on home soil was his lowest round of a 2019 that saw him secure two top tens and he recorded the same score on Saturday for his best effort of 2020. Having missed just two cuts from 13 starts this season, it is clear his consistency has returned - another low score on Sunday and we could have one of our most popular winners of 2020.

Burmester the entertainer

Dean Burmester was kind enough to let us mic him up a few weeks ago during the ISPS HANDA UK Championship and the results were beyond entertaining.

Well, on Saturday he didn't have his own mic but the South African was still making it very clear how he felt. Life is never dull when Dean is around.

Moooooving Day

There are no spectators here in the bubble this week due to Covid-19 protocols but one lucky local farmer managed to get a view from his field. But it was his companions who drew the most attention as he was ganged up on by a group of cows! Clearly a man vastly experienced with bovine buddies, he was completely unmoved and even joined by more human company later on. I'm assuming the four legged spectators don't count towards the 15 allowed for an outdoor gathering!?