MIGUEL Tabuena rallied with two birdies on his last two holes to salvage a one-under-par 71 in the third round of LIV Golf Adelaide, but dropped from 25th to tied 33rd place with one round left.
The 31-year-old Tabuena was struggling and was looking at what could be poor outing until he dug deep and produced the sterling finish to break par at The Grange Golf Club that drew thousands of spectators.
The Filipino star had four bogeys against two birdies when he reached the par 3 sixth hole, his 17th for the round, after starting on the 8th hole in the shotgun-style playing format.
READ: Miguel Tabuena shoots 71, falls to 25th spot in LIV Golf Adelaide
He birdied the hole and then also birdied the par 5 seventh hole to finish under par for the third straight day. He shot a 3-under 69 in the first round.
Tabuena’s second straight 71 gave him a 5-under total overall, 14 strokes behind co-leaders Jon Rahm of Spain and Bryson DeChambeau of the United States, both at 19 under par. Ram shot a 4-under-par 68, DeChambeau a 6-under-par 66.
This is Tabuena’s first tournament as a full-fledged playing member of LIV Golf after getting the nod from organizers who granted him wild card status without having passed the qualifying protocols that included the International Series Ranking and the Promotions tournament.
He had earlier played one LIV tournament as a member of the 4Aces whose captain, Dustin Johnson, called him up to join the team in the season-opener in Riyadh.
That did not pan out too well for Tabuena whose stint as team member was terminated after the event where he finished tied 48th among 57 players.
Johnson then took Anthony Kim to replace him and Kim has responded well to the challenge, grabbing solo third place at 14 under par, after three rounds.
Tied fourth at 13 under are Peter Uihlein, Lucas Herbert and Cameron Smith.
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