Soudal Open - Day three digest

Everything you need to know from day three in Belgium.

Nacho Elvira extended his lead, Joe Dean was ready to deliver, there was wedge wizardry all over the place and the Ryder Cup Captain was not hanging around in round three of the Soudal Open.

Here is everything you need to know from Saturday at Rinkven International Golf Club.

Elvira opens up big lead

Elvira will take an imposing four-shot lead into the final round as he goes in search of a second DP World Tour title. The Spaniard started the week with back-to-back bogey-free rounds of 64 and while he could not quite maintain that pace on day three, carding a 67 containing his first dropped shots of the week, he will take the joint largest 54-hole lead of the season into Sunday at 18 under. Dean and fellow Englishman Ross Fisher, Frenchman Romain Langasque and Dane Niklas Nørgaard were the nearest challengers, a shot clear of another Englishman in Andrew Wilson.

Dean confident he can deliver

Dean was confident he could achieve a second life-changing result of the season after a third-round 66 kept him in contention. The Englishman came through all three stages of the Qualifying School last year, birdieing the last to secure his card, but he did not tee it up until February as he did not have the finances to support his travel, accommodation and other costs. After missing the cut in Qatar, he went back to the day job as a delivery driver for UK supermarket chain Morrisons but a tie for second and cheque for just under 200,000 euros at the Magical Kenya Open changed everything. He revealed after a second-round 65 at Rinkven that his week in Nairobi meant he had not been back behind the wheel of a delivery van but after following that with a 66 to sit just four back, he admitted his gains in Africa were more than financial. "I learned that my game is good enough to compete," he said. "And you’ve just got to take each shot as it comes and go from there."

Anything you can do

The driveable par-four eighth is a wonderful risk-reward hole and Elvira and Fisher both took it on, although their tee-shots ended up at the side of the green in the rough stuff. That was no problem for Fisher who almost holed out and, moments later, Elvira also nearly made an eagle. Some touch from the pair of them.

No putter required

Dean was producing some magic with his wedges, holing out on both the 13th and 14th.

But the chip-in of the day probably belongs to Nørgaard on the tenth. A beauty.

A fast start from the skipper

Luke Donald wasn't hanging around on Saturday, starting his round with five straight birdies. He left himself two tap-ins, two putts from inside ten feet and holed a 35-footer in his first five holes en route to a 65, his lowest round on the DP World Tour for 16 months. He heads into Sunday at 11 under and in the mix for a first top ten since 2019.