Walker weathers Finnish storms to lead

Sam Walker will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Vierumӓki Finnish Challenge after battling the conditions to shoot a third round 69 at Vierumӓki Resort and reach 11 under par overall.

The Englishman made five birdies on his way to a third straight round in the 60s to move ahead of Romain Langasque and Niklas Lemke, who both sit on ten under par.

Walker, a three-time winner on the European Challenge Tour, credited his perseverance in the wet and windy Finnish conditions as the key to his rise to the top of the leaderboard.

“It was a good round,” said the 38 year old. “I just stuck in there more than anything, and holed some crucial putts on the front nine to keep the momentum going – those six footers on these greens are crucial.

“I made the most of the birdie chances when I got it close, but I’ve been pleased with everything in my game – staying calm, keeping the clubs dry, just trying to hit as many good shots as possible.

“Experience might help me, but I’d say yes and no – there’s a lot of good golfers out here and a lot of kids who are hungry, who I’m probably old enough to be their dad!

“You’ve still just got to get your head down and see what you can get out of it, and try to enjoy it and hope the weather stays good.

“There are a lot of birdies out there if you hit the fairways, so that’s all I’ve got to do – I haven’t’ got to change anything in my game plan, just make some birdies and see what happens at the end of the day.

“I’ve been playing well this year and swinging the club well, I just haven’t been holing any putts. I played well at La Gomera for three rounds, and I’ve been playing well, so I was hopeful a week like this might come along.”

Langasque, out earlier in the morning before the worst of the weather hit, shot the lowest round of the day, an impressive five under par round of 67.

The Frenchman, currently second in the Road to Oman Rankings, has finished runner-up twice already in his rookie season on Europe’s top developmental tour, but insists he is not impatient to claim a maiden professional title.

“I’ve been working with my coach on just staying calm,” said the 21 year old. “I’m young and I don’t have to be focused on the result, so I just thought of that all day and I had a good rhythm and did my best.

“I took a break after missing the cut at Le Vaudreuil and I put my clubs away at home for four days, which was really good because it had been just too much golf before that.

“Now I want to play, and that’s really good because you have to want to play, want to win – I will do my best to, but if I play well, that’s good, if I don’t that’s not a problem.”

Sweden’s Lemke will join Langasque and Walker in the final group, ahead of a clutch of players one shot further back in a tie for fourth place, all well within range of victory.

Simon Forsstrom and Bjorn Hellgren, Lemke’s compatriots, are among them, alongside France’s Julien Guerrier and Spaniard Juan Sarasti.

Halfway leaders Scott Henry and Daniel Løkke struggled on Moving Day, Løkke’s 74 dropping him to seven under par with Henry two shots further back and in a tie for 20

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