Dominic Foos will become the youngest winner in European Challenge Tour history should he win the GANT Open, where he holds a one shot lead over David Law going into the final round after a two under par third round of 69.
The German 17 year old tops the leaderboard on ten under par overall and would beat Francis Valera’s record that has stood since 1993 by more than a year were he to prevail at Aura GC.
Foos’ lead would have been greater had he not made bogey on two of his final three holes, but the youngster remained happy with his day’s work and optimistic ahead of the biggest round of his fledgling career.
“Today was exactly like yesterday,” he said. “I played the front nine really well, was four under par for my round after 14 holes, but I finished bogey-bogey-par. I actually hit two good putts that just broke late and missed but all in all it was still a very good round.
“I wasn’t nervous at all through the round, not even at the end, it’s just hard having to putt through shadows and get the break right. I’m feeling great with my game and I played really well today, so everything is good.
“I haven’t thought about the final round just yet but I’m not going to do anything different to the last three days, it’s just another round of golf and I’ve got to keep on playing.
“It was a lot of fun playing with Brandon Stone today. I know him quite a bit so he helped keep me relaxed on the course, we really enjoyed ourselves.
“Jamie McLeary kept responding whenever I made a putt and seemed to really push himself, and obviously he’s got a lot of experience – I’ve got experience of winning tournaments as well, obviously not on a level like that, but winning is winning, so I’ll stick to my plan in the final round.”
Foos may have been born four years after the film even came out, but credited a love of ‘The Lion King’ for inspiring his eye-catching choice of head cover.
“I call him Simba!” he said. “I’ve always loved lions and I knew every line to ‘The Lion King’ off by heart from when I was really young with my sister.
“I’ve had him on my bag for many years, not really for luck, but I just love him and I love that film.”
Scotland’s Law carded a second successive round of 67 to lie on nine under par, with fellow Scot McLeary one shot further back after a double bogey at the 18thhole.
Alongside him will be the local favourite, Finland’s Linus Vaisanen, whose 68 also puts him two shots behind Foos ahead of what looks set to be an enthralling finale.
