Jens Dantorp will bid for his second victory on the 2022 Road to Mallorca as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Empordà Challenge.
The Swede followed his course record-equalling second round with a three under par round of 67 on day three to move to 11 under par, one ahead of Scotland’s Liam Johnston who breezed into contention with an excellent six under par 64 at Empordà Golf.
Dantorp, who won the Challenge de España in Cádiz just three weeks ago, carded seven birdies and four bogeys on a scorching hot day in Girona and admits he was too aggressive coming in, after making a good par save following a wayward drive on the 17th, before hitting his tee shot in the hazard on the 18th where he subsequently made bogey.
“Coming in was a bit of a struggle,” he said. “I managed to make a good par save on 17 and made a few good birdies on the back nine as well. It was a bit up and down on the back nine but it was pretty solid on the front nine. Yesterday was great so hopefully I can find that form tomorrow.
“I was a bit fortunate to be on the cart path on 17. I hit a duck hook off the tee, got through the trees and it landed on the cart path. I hit a decent second shot but you never know how it’s going to come out off the cart path. I got a really bad lie in the grass bunker but I hit a good shot from there, so it was nice to get up and down.
“I feel like I maybe attacked a little bit too hard on the back nine at some points today, but you have to play aggressive to win, so I’ll stick to that.
“You know you can do it, so it gives you a bit of confidence. It means I can go out and focus on the right things because I know I can do it. You can never affect what the other guys are doing, so you just have to focus on your own thing and hopefully it will be good enough for tomorrow.”
Scotland’s Johnston put himself in contention for his third Challenge Tour title, and first for almost four years, by finishing with a birdie on the difficult 18th hole and will join Dantorp in the final group on Sunday.
“It went really well today,” he said. “I got off to a quick start, I was four under through six holes. I had a bit of a slack bogey on nine but I steadied it well and it was nice to finish with a birdie on the last with it being quite a tough hole.
“I holed a nice putt on 16 and then hit a wedge to maybe a foot on the last, which was nice, so it was a good day’s work.
“It’s been a bit of a while since I was in this position. I’ve won a couple of times on the Challenge Tour before, including in Spain actually, so I’m just looking forward to tomorrow. It’s just been enjoyable. It’s nice to be in contention again, that’s what you play golf for.”
Dantorp and Johnston broke away from the pack on day three, but Sweden’s Robin Petersson carded a six under par 64 of his own to move into a share of third place alongside England’s Dan Brown, Italian Lorenzo Scalise and Frenchman Gary Stal on seven under par.
Swedish duo Dantorp and Petersson will be joined by Johnston in Sunday’s final group, which will get under way at 10:10am local time.
