Jordi Garcia Pinto was holding firm onto his lead midway through the third round of the Najeti Hotels et Golfs Open despite a number of players making a significant charge towards the top at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club.
The Spaniard, who leads the Challenge Tour Rankings after an impressively consistent start to 2014, did not get off the ideal start having held the overnight lead at the midway point of the tournament, bogeying the first.
A birdie at the third was followed by another dropped shot at the fifth but, just as Italians Andrea Rota and Lorenzo Gagli began to put the pressure on the Girona man, Garcia Pinto stormed two shots clear once again courtesy of a trio of successive birdies from the seventh.
That took him to the turn in two under par and to eight under for the tournament, after a six under second round of 65 had earned him the second round lead on six under overall.
Rota was two shots behind as the Italian put some pressure on his playing partner with an eagle at the par five seventh hole and a birdie at the ninth, whole his compatriot Gagli was on superb form, carding five birdies to go five under par through 15 hole and move to four under for the tournament.
