Day three digest: 2020 English Championship

Everything you need to know from day three at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & CC.

Sully took flight, Steven Brown was inches from perfection and Jamie Donaldson and Brandon Stone had a little wager on day three of the 2020 English Championship.

Here is everything you need to know from day three of the third event of the UK Swing.

Sully dominates day three

The tone was set when Andy Sullivan put his drive on the par four opening hole to two feet to set up an eagle. He needed another eagle on the ninth to retake the lead but after all was said and done on Saturday, Sullivan was 21 under and led by five shots - the lowest 54 hole total and biggest 54 hole lead of the 2020 Race to Dubai. "My strategy will be the same as today," he said. "Just control what I can do. I can't control anyone that is going to come up behind me. This golf course does offer a lot of birdies so I'm sure at some point someone is going to have a run at me. All I can do is control what I can do and see where we are at the end of it."

Anything you can do.......

The pressure was applied to overnight leader Sullivan from the very start. In the group in front, Laurie Canter chipped in for a birdie to join the lead.

His countryman needed to respond and he did so in some style.

The best start to a round this season? There can't be many better.

.........and again

This time it was Stone applying the pressure as a two putt birdie on the ninth meant that Sullivan was out of the lead for the first time in a long time. Once again he responded, although he got a little help from Mother Nature.

Perfection is a pin away

Some things in golf seem impossible - like this shot not going in. From the moment Brown's tee shot on the sixth hit the green it was in all the way. It hit the pin and then the side of the cup and bobbled out to tap-in range. "We didn’t really know what happened because it looked on line but then it disappeared but the guys behind the green didn’t react so we knew it wasn’t in but I didn’t realise it was that close," he said.

Jamie's 15th family fan club

Donaldson has long been a fan favourite on the European Tour - partly due to his outgoing nature and partly due to that shot that clinched the Ryder Cup in 2014. Well there may be no fans allowed on the course this week but if your garden is next to a green, you can still cheer on your favourites as much as you like. The gang at the back of the 15th had a sign paying tribute to their hero 'J-Dog', and he got a huge cheer even though he surrendered a bogey.

Dinner on Donaldson

Stone revealed in an on-course interview on the front nine that he and playing partner Donaldson were challenging each other to a skins game in round three. After both men enjoyed impressive front nines, they lost their mojo a little on the way home and Stone managed to hold on for a win. "I did manage to beat Jamie in the end, by the skin of my teeth because on the back nine I was getting really nervous there," said Stone. "He got unlucky with a few hobbles on the green but I can happily say that dinner will be a little cheaper tonight."

Watch those trousers

How many of you out there would have ripped your trousers (and possibly hurt your back) trying this? Come on, admit it. Stone is a flexible boy.