Shane Lowry and John Murphy tied second with one round to go at St Andrews

Shane Lowry and Kinsale’s John Murphy will both go into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in a tie for second place after impressive 67s at St Andrews.

Murphy is set for the biggest day of his young career so far on Sunday as he looks to continue his very impressive European Tour debut. His third round of 67 earns him a place in the final group alongside leader and 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett while Lowry will go out in the penultimate group.

After round of 69 at both Carnoustie and Kingsbarns over the first two days, 22-year-old Murphy defied tough conditions at the Old Course on Saturday to move up the leaderboard to 11 under, three behind leader Willett and tied with Lowry, Richard Bland and Tyrrell Hatton.

Murphy started at the 10th and made an opening birdie before adding another at the 18th. He then picked up three more shots at the first, fifth and eighth to complete a bogey-free round.

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The Cork native is a recent graduate of the University of Louisville where he enjoyed a stellar collegiate career and he wrapped up his amateur days with an impressive Walker Cup showing at Seminole in May.

After turning pro he has had some starts on the Challenge Tour, including top-11 finishes in Germany and Denmark, but this week is his European Tour debut, leaving him well in line for the biggest cheque of his career so far.

Meanwhile, Lowry has eyes on a fifth career victory just a week after his Ryder Cup debut. The Offalyman came flying out of the blocks on Saturday with four birdies in a row from the second to the fifth before he added another at the eighth to go out in just 31.

The 34-year-old slowed up a bit on the back nine with a bogey on the 10th and just one birdie on the 16th but a superb up and down around the Road Hole bunker at the 17th helped to get him right into the mix with one round to go.

Afterwards he told Sky Sports that some fatigue is kicking in after the emotion of last week but his competitive nature remains intact even in the tough conditions.

“There’s a bit of fatigue alright,” he said. “It’s a bit of a come down from last week but it’s still a big tournament. I’m a competitor, I’m a competitive person so I’m giving it my own.

“I’m okay with the wind. The back nine was playing incredibly tough, I shot level par on the back with a bad bogey on 10 and I would have taken that. Anybody that’s involved in golf or is into golf knows this place is one of the most special in the world so to lift that trophy on the 18th green would be special.”

When asked if he, his amateur partner Gerry McManus and his dad Brendan would be having a pint of two tonight, Lowry was quick to reply that he might have to avoid their company this evening.

“I think I’ll have to run away from them tonight. You’re going to get me in trouble with my ma!”

At the top of the leaderboard, Willett will take a three-shot lead into the final round after a 66 to get to 14 under par.

Paul Dunne and Pádraig Harrington both missed the third round cut with rounds of 74 and 69 respectively while a 78 for Cormac Sharvin and a 75 for Jonathan Caldwell saw them finish a long way off the cut mark. Michael Hoey made it into the final round with a 71 leaving him in a tie for 26th at five under.

Willett was a Ryder Cup player when he won the Masters in 2016 but then dropped down to 462nd in the world before winning two of the European Tours elite Rolex Series events in 2018 and 2019. This season has seen him struggle with Covid-19, wisdom teeth, appendicitis and a hernia, and he has once again dropped down the rankings to world number 170.

But after making three birdies in favourable conditions on the front nine and then three more battling wind and rain on the way home, he could be set to once again complete a remarkable comeback.

“Early on we had a decent bit of wind. Downwind you always feel like you should take some of your chances,” said Willett.

“You need to drive it close and as soon as you get on the 12th tee you know you’ve got pretty tough conditions coming straight into the wind on them last six holes.

“But we played them in two under so we’re gaining — really hit it good on them last six and gained a lot of shots coming in doing that.”

Scores after round three of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (British unless stated, Par 72)

202 Danny Willett 67 69 66

205 Tyrrell Hatton 64 70 71, Shane Lowry (Irl) 71 67 67, Richard Bland 69 72 64, John Murphy (Irl) 69 69 67

206 Daniel Gavins 67 68 71, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 67 72 67, Jeff Winther (Den) 66 71 69

207 Ewen Ferguson 65 73 69, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 64 76 67

208 Tommy Fleetwood 66 71 71, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 70 68 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 68 70, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 70 70

209 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 70 68 71, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 71 70 68, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 71 68 70, Richie Ramsay 67 72 70

210 Billy Horschel (USA) 69 73 68, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 69 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 64 75 71, Eddie Pepperell 68 71 71, Haotong Li (Chn) 64 72 74, Callum Shinkwin 72 72 66, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 67 73 70

211 Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 74 67, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 68 74 69, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 71 71 69, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 72 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 68 74 69, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 65 75 71

212 Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 67 73 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 70 73 69, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 70 72, Calum Hill 73 69 70, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 72 71, Luke Donald 72 72 68

213 Rhys Enoch 72 69 72, Tom Lewis 68 75 70, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 74 69 70, Grant Forrest 73 73 67, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 72 70 71, M. J. Daffue (Rsa) 70 74 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 71 71, Ben Jones 70 72 71, Julian Suri (USA) 69 73 71, David Drysdale 71 72 70

214 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 75 71 68, Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 71 73 70, Brett Rankin (Aus) 71 72 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 72 73, Stephen Gallacher 71 68 75, Justin Harding (Rsa) 69 75 70, Marcus Armitage 69 75 70, John Catlin (USA) 68 72 74, Andy Sullivan 73 72 69, Troy Merritt (USA) 67 73 74, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 74 72 68, David Horsey 73 69 72, Oliver Fisher 68 70 76

The following players missed the cut:

215 George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 74 70, Steven Brown 69 76 70, Richard McEvoy 72 72 71, Romain Langasque (Fra) 65 76 74, Laurie Canter 67 73 75, Joe Long 74 69 72, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 75 69, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 70 76 69, Oliver Wilson 69 74 72, Ross Fisher 74 71 70, Matthew Jordan 72 75 68

216 Bryden MacPherson (Aus) 73 71 72, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 69 74 73, Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 72 74 70, Victor Perez (Fra) 71 73 72, Alexander Levy (Fra) 67 76 73, Robert MacIntyre 69 77 70, Connor Syme 71 75 70, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 78 68, Mac Meissner (USA) 72 71 73, Paul Dunne (Irl) 67 75 74, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 75 69 72, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 73 73, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 74 72, Jack Senior 68 75 73

217 Johannes Veerman (USA) 69 76 72, Sam Horsfield 69 75 73, Renato Paratore (Ita) 70 68 79, Matthew Southgate 70 73 74, Jordan Smith 70 73 74, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 74 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 74 72, Joel Stalter (Fra) 70 73 74

218 Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 73 76 69, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 66 83 69, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 70 75 73, Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 68 73 77, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 72 72 74, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 68 78 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 75 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 72 75

219 Sami Valimaki (Fin) 71 73 75, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 73 72 74, Ross McGowan 71 71 77, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 75 75 69, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 73 73 73, Wil Besseling (Ned) 68 78 73, Chris Paisley 70 73 76, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 74 78, Marc Warren 73 71 75, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 74 74 71

220 Tae-Hee Lee (Kor) 73 75 72, Chris Wood 74 73 73, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 72 72 76, David Law 68 76 76, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 70 76 74, Matty Lamb 71 73 76, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 74 74, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 75 73, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 72 75 73, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 75 75 70, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 77 74

221 Travis Smyth (Aus) 72 75 74, Josh Geary (Nzl) 70 78 73, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 72 76 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 72 80, Joost Luiten (Ned) 68 82 71, Santiago Tarrio (Spa) 73 74 74, Ben Schmidt 72 73 76, Peter Hanson (Swe) 78 69 74, Robin Roussel (Fra) 77 71 73

222 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 74 73 75, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 72 76 74, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 75 76, Paul Waring 71 77 74, Angus Flanagan 70 77 75, Scott Jamieson 77 69 76, Robert Rock 71 79 72

223 Denzel Ieremia (Nzl) 76 75 72, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 70 76 77, Berry Henson (USA) 67 77 79

224 Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 71 77 76, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 77 78, Graeme Storm 73 74 77, Javier Ballesteros (Spa) 74 74 76, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 72 74 78

225 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 75 75 75, James Morrison 71 75 79, Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 75 72 78

226 Jack Dyer 74 77 75

227 Francesco Laporta (Ita) 77 72 78

228 Jonathan Caldwell (NIrl) 72 81 75, Ashley Chesters 72 78 78, Ricardo Santos (Por) 72 78 78

229 Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 70 78 81, Vincent Norrman (Swe) 77 76 76

230 Gavin Green (Mal) 69 77 84

231 Martin Rohwer (Rsa) 75 80 76, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 77 78 76

233 Toto Thimba Jr. (Rsa) 78 77 78, Russell Chrystie 78 76 79

234 David Howell 76 79 79

235 Ruan Conradie (Rsa) 79 78 78

237 Andrea Pavan (Ita) 74 84 79, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 76 87 74

238 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 78 80 80