Gallacher was content considering he came into the event after a four-week break while his wife gave birth to their scond child. Two bad drives on the back nine wrecked his chance of victory.

Lomas was five under after five holes after a birdie at the first, a hole in one at the third and an eagle three at the long fifth. But he could not sustain his challenge.

Tom Whitehouse, a tour rookie with plenty of promise, closed out with a level-par 72 that looked like it might be better after he birdied three holes in the front nine. Then three bogeys on the back cancelled out his good work.

"I played quite well. I holed a bunker shot on the 3rd, hit it to two inches at the 6th, and wedged close at the ninth," he said.

But he got a bad bounce into a bunker at the 10th and felt he had been genuinely unlucky on his other tw bogey holes.

"I didn't really put a foot wrong. It was one of those things. I didn't get the score I

desrved. That's the way it's going at the moment. But if I keep playing the same,

eventually I'll get one.

"But I'll view it as a good week. I hadn't made a cut in a while, so I've made one though it could have been a lot better.

"I feel I've turned a corner this week. For the next few weeks I'll press on and start making some - CASH," he said. He shared 42th spot.

One of his playing partners, Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, was full of praise for Whitehouse.

"He's a good player with a great short game. And he's a nice guy," McDowell said.

Robert Rock finished off with a 75, three over par, following his second and third rounds of 69. He placed 53rd

"It's tough out there. But I didn't make any putts either so 75 is I suppose a fair result. I had a lot of putts hang on the edge. It wasn't quite good enough," Rock said.

"I needed to shoot maybe another three under today to get into the decent positions. But it just didn't go right. No big problem. I've made a big improvement," he said.

"I've hit some proper iron shots for a change. They've been pretty awful of late so that part was better. Putting was good for most of the rounds. Level par for four rounds isn't really very good but the bits I've been working on have shown a bit of

improvement.

"I'm happy to have finished after I shot three over in the first round and

double-bogeyed the first hole of my second round. So I wasn't looking like being here for the weekend, really. So I'm happy in some ways."