Van Rooyen moves to top of pecking order after flurry of birdies
Ahat-trick of birdies on the final three holes sealed a dream round for Erik van Rooyen in the Trophée Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
The South African finished with a five-under par 68 to take him into the final day at the par-73 Red Course in Rabat with a onestroke lead.
Van Rooyen is now sitting eight under par as he battles to secure his first European Tour title.
But he is not the only visitor to the Moroccan capital who is eyeing a maiden title.
Spaniard Jorge Campillo is hoping to steal the glory in a final-day showdown, having secured second place with a fourunder 69.
His battle to take a Tour title this year has been thwarted, finishing runner-up twice and third in March. However, his efforts in Rabat have positioned him neatly inside the world top 100.
In third, Sean Crocker sits one stroke ahead of fellow 2018 European Challenge Tour graduate Grant Forrest, who shares fourth place on five under par with Wade Ormsby, Lee Slattery and Julian Suri.
Van Rooyen said: “I didn’t even realise I made five birdies to be honest. I didn’t switch any gears. I struggled with my rhythm, my tempo, but in the beginning I think I just kind of found my flow on the back nine.
“I think I’ve been in this position a number of times now. The nerves will be there again tomorrow, but I love to be in this position. What we’ve been doing up until now has been great, and we’ll just keep doing that.”
Scotland’s Grant Forrest is three off the leaders after shooting a 69, but David Law is five shots further back after a disappointing 73.
Stephen Gallacher and Marc Warren are well down the
field after carding 77 and 79 respectively.
Meanwhile, an impressive seven-under-par 65 has secured a one-stroke lead for Adrian Meronk in the Turkish Airlines Challenge at Samsun Golf Club.
The Pole will head into the final day of the tournament on 21-under after three rounds.
Meronk’s only bogey of the day came at the 505-yard par four 16th hole.
He said: “The 16th is probably the hardest hole and definitely the longest of the par fours. The landing area for driver is pretty small.
“I hit a good drive actually but took the wrong club for the second shot and left it a little bit short of the green and just didn’t make up and down. It was still a good effort for a par and I couldn’t do much more.”
He faces a threat from overnight leader Mark Flindt Haastrup who carded a four under 68 for a 20 under par total, while English duo Matthew Jordan and Ben Stow are a shot further back on 19 under par.
Having narrowly missed out on title wins last season, Meronk is hoping to finally secure a Tour win today.
“I have been in this position before so I have some experience but I’m just going to try and play my game as best I can and try to enjoy it,” Meronk.
“It would be great to win tomorrow. I don’t even want to think about it now; I just want to play 18 good holes tomorrow and see what happens.”
The lowest round of the day, however, was carded by Grégory Havret who shot a 10-under-par 62 to reach 16 under overall.
Meronk was one of five players to post rounds of 65, with Junior Ryder Cup star Nicolai Højgaard, Jonas Kolbing, Moritz Lampert and Martin Simonsen also taking advantage of scoring opportunities by carding seven under par rounds at Samsun Golf Club.
A storming finish consisting of three birdies and an eagle in her final four holes helped home favourite Yuka Yasuda to the top of the leaderboard at the end of the third round of the Women’s Amateur Asia-pacific ( WAAP).
Yasuda, who recorded the best round of the second day in terrible conditions – a two-over par 74 – was in fine form once again and a five-under par 67 round took her to four-underpar, two ahead of the defending champion Atthaya Thitikul (71) of Thailand and overnight leader Yaeeun Hong (73) of Korea.
Another Japanese player, Yuna Nishimura (70), is tied for fourth place along with Yewon Lee of Korea (70) and Australia’s Becky Kay (73).