English pair have Crocker and Renato in their sights as they eye Alps victory
Englishmen Ross Mcgowan and Matthew Jordan head into today’s final day of the Omega European Masters just one shot off the lead after firing rounds of 69 in tricky conditions on day three.
The picture at the top of the leaderboard changed dramatically on moving day as Renato Paratore and Sean Crocker took over at the summit, with those who had led the way on Friday moving backwards.
A 64 from Crocker – the lowest round of the day – and Paratore’s battling 69 saw the pair finish the day on 10-under-par.
Mcgowan, Jordan and Spain’s Jorge Campillo were in a tie for third on nine-under, with halfway leader Dean Burmester among those another stroke back.
Jordan, who is aiming to secure his maiden European Tour title this week, said: “The scores suggest how difficult it was.
“It was colder, the wind was a slightly different direction, which seemed to make it more difficult.
“Sometimes the ball would get through it, sometimes it would pick it up, so compared to the first two days I found it was more difficult to hit it close, pick the yardages.
“It’s so tightly bunched, someone is bound to play well with that many good players.
“I’ll start to play as well as I can and see what happens with the chances, just try to shoot the best score I can, that’s all I can do.”
Top Scot is Calum Hill, in a tie for 21st after his third-round 67 took him to five-under-par.
One shot further back is the only other sc otto make the cut, Scott Jamieson, who fired a two-over-par 72 to slip down the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Italian amateur Pietro Bovari had a day to remember in the mountains as he made a hole-in-one at the 13th to win himself an OMEGA Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M.
LEADERBOARD
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 70) 200 – Renato Paratore (Ita) 65 66 69, Sean Crocker (USA) 71 65 64; 201 – Jorge Campillo (Spa) 68 64 69, Ross Mcgowan 68 64 69, Matthew Jordan 67 65 69;
202 – John Catlin (USA) 68 65 69, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 64 65 73, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 68 69 65;
203 – Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 67 69, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 68 68 67, Andy Sullivan 64 66 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 66 68 69, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 68 68, Robin Sciot-siegrist (Fra) 63 70 70;
204 – Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 65 74
65, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 68 67, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 68 66 70, Paul Peterson (USA) 65 73 66, Thomas Detry (Bel) 65 65 74, James Morrison 60 74 70;
205 – Wil Besseling (Ned) 71 66 68, Calum Hill 68 70 67, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 69 69 67, Marcus Armitage 63 73 69, Bryden Macpherson (Aus) 69 68 68, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 71 67;
206 – Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 64 71, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 70 68 68, Justin Harding (Rsa) 66 66 74, Richard Mcevoy 70 68 68, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 67 69 70, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 66 70 70, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 67 70 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 67 70, Oliver Wilson 70 69 67, Scott Jamieson 67 67 72, Jeff Winther (Den) 70 67 69, Jamie Donaldson 67 66 73, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 70 69 67, Lee Slattery 70 67 69; 207 – Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 64 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 69 70, Minwoo Lee (Aus) 66 67 74, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 66 67 74, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 64 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 70 71;
208 – Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 71 66 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 74 65 69, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 65 74 69, Jean-baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 70 71;.