Howie takes charge as he seeks first win

SCOTLAND’S Craig Howie will take a three- stroke lead i nto t he f i nal r ound of t he Range Servant Challenge by Hinton Golf i n Malmo after posting a bogey- f ree t hree under par round of 69 on day three.

The 26-year-old carded three birdies without dropping a shot to reach 16 under par, three strokes clear of Niklas

Norgaard Moller who sits second after carding a 68.

Howie has enjoyed a solid start to the 2021 Road to Mallorca campaign, with two top 10s and a tie for 14th in his first three starts, and he will go in search of his maiden European Challenge Tour title on the final day in Sweden.

“I’m really pleased,” he said. “I didn’t really have my in

A-game, I wasn’t at my best, but I grinded it out and I’m happy with the day.

“For the first four holes, I could barely feel my hands. We were waiting a lot, because of the weather, so I felt like I was doing a mini warm-up before every single shot I hit. It was hard to get any momentum going to start with, so you just had to grind, try and hit pars to start with, and then when the weather got a little bit better, it became a bit easier.

“Any lead’s a good lead to be honest, the more the better. A lot can change around this golf course, a lot of birdies can be made quite quickly, so I’ve got to be pretty good tomorrow.”

Julien Brun joins Howie and Moller in the final group this morning at 9.40am.