Hend has chance to lay ghosts of failure

SCOTT Hend and Nino Bertasio go into the final day of the KLM Open in the box seats, while English trio Richard Bland, David Horsey and Ben Evans will be hot on their heels in Spijk.

Australian Hend holds a oneshot advantage after Bertasio’s double-bogey on the par-five 18th cost him the overnight lead at the end of the third day, although the Italian remains firmly in contention.

A birdie at the last for the local favourite and 2013 champion Joost Luiten saw him join the English trio at 11 under overall, three shots off Hend after a day of considerable changes at the top of the leaderboard.

Bland, playing his 391st event, is still without a tournament win.

Overnight leader Bernd Wiesberger battled his way to par, dropping down to a share of sixth, where he finds himself alongside South African Brandon Stone, who moved up 38 places with an eight-under-par round of 63.

Heading in the opposite direction was England’s Mark Foster, who fell from a tie for second to a share of 36th after a round of 76 that included five bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-four 12th.

Hend’s round got off to an inauspicious start with a bogey on the second, but he turned it around with four birdies on the next four.

He picked up a further shot on the 14th, an eagle on the par-five 15th and a birdie on the last.

“The swing felt a little bit off out there today but I managed to hang in there and just stay patient, and then I started hitting some really nice shots and that presented me with the opportunity to make some putts,” said Hend, who entered the final round of last week’s European Masters with a one-shot lead but lost in a play-off to Alex Noren, and will hope to go one better as he searches for a second win of the season.

“It was just all about hanging in there, I wasn’t really on top of it but I got the most out of it that I could. I’m putting some good scores together and have carried that on from last week, where I went pretty close. Hopefully I can go one better tomorrow but I need to get everything right as there are some great players on that leaderboard.

“Me and Tony [Carolan, his caddie] get on really well together. We are polar opposites, so it matches up really well. He is the kind of guy who will go and stay in the bush for three weeks and camp out and go fishing. I’m a go-to-the-Hilton-and-sit-on-thebeach kind of guy, so it matches up really well.”