Andalucia Recap: Samooja and Meronk come good on day three as Cleeks tie for sixth
SOTOGRANDE, Spain – With captain Martin Kaymer and the usually reliable Richard Bland not replicating their form of the first two rounds on Sunday, Cleeks GC had to settle for a share of sixth place in the team standings at LIV Golf Andalucia.
German Kaymer double-bogeyed the par-4 16th on his way to a 4-over 75 on the challenging Real Club Valderrama layout while English veteran Bland ran up a double at the par-3 sixth en route to a 74 on day three.
Thankfully LIV Golf Promotions winner Kalle Samooja produced his best golf of the week with a closing 69 and 2023 DP World Tour Player of the Year Adrian Meronk followed suit with a 70 as the all-European combination posted an aggregate score of 4-over.
The Cleeks currently sit eighth in the points standings - 48.5 points outside third place, which is the final seed to earn a first-round bye for the season-ending Team Championship to be played at Maridoe Golf Club in Texas from September 20-22.
Having finished second, first, T-6 and T-6 in their last four LIV Golf starts, the Cleeks still have a chance of securing a coveted top-three spot with three tournaments left in the regular season.
"We have a good team spirit, we all get along really well," said Kaymer. "Now is the time we need to keep pushing. We need to keep working hard because we only have two months left of the year for the LIV events, so we need to keep grinding. We need to make a proper push to give ourselves a good chance to finish in the top three. We need to keep going."
Cleeks GC did well enough in extremely challenging conditions for the opening round at Real Club Valderrama as winds gusted up to 20 mph to move into a share of sixth place in the team standings.
Bland ended the day leading the GIR charts after hitting 13 of 18 greens en route to a three-birdie 71 while Kaymer carded a 72 and Meronk a 76.
The Cleeks managed to improve their position by one after the second round. Kaymer reeled off five birdies on his way to a 68, Bland shot a 70 and Samooja carded a 72 for the team to post an aggregate score of 3-under and secure fifth pace in the standings.
Heading into the final round, 14 players were within seven shots of the lead, including Kaymer who was tied for third and Bland, who was joint sixth. By the time day three was over, Kaymer and Bland had slipped back into a tie for 14th at 2-over while Samooja ended up in a share of 27th, at 6-over.
Meronk, who had opened with scores of 76 and 77 at Valderrama, finished joint 42nd at 10-over - though he is the highest-ranked Cleeks player in the season-long points standings, at 15th.
One thing that continues to serve the Cleeks well this season is their strong sense of camaraderie.
"The strength among the team has been awesome, and with the caddies, we all get along well," said Samooja. "The team managers out here, they're all good, they take care of us well. We have really a good group of people around us. I'm really looking forward for this last part of the season."