Marcus Fraser and Martin Wiegele share the lead of 15 under par 201 after the third round of the BMW Russian Open at Le Meridien Moscow Golf and Country Club after lightning storms delayed play by over two hours.
Fraser had a disappointing finish, making two bogeys in his closing three holes after playing some beautiful golf and getting to six under for the day after 15, while Wiegele – by his own admission – started nervously before birdieing both 17 and 18 to tie for first place.
The Australian and Austrian shot 68 and 67 respectively to tie on 15 under par 201, with Englishman David Ryles one stroke off the pace and Spaniard José Manuel Carriles alongside tournament favourite Andrew Coltart on 11 under.
“I was very disappointed with my finish today,” said Australian Fraser. “I bogeyed 16 after a bad tee shot then hit the ball in the water on 17 and made a good par in the end. Then I hit a bad tee shot on the last and had to settle for bogey.
“Apart from that, it was probably the best I’ve played all week for 15 holes. I didn’t really putt all that well and it’s a good thing to be six under for the round at that stage and not be putting that well – I will take some positives from that.
“I think I missed about five or six makeable putts and that makes the difference at the end of the day. I really could have probably extended my lead but had two costly bogeys which is expensive when it brings you back into the field.
“I’m still in a good position though – I’m just going to go out there tomorrow and keep doing what I’ve been doing and hopefully that’s good enough to win tomorrow after noon.”
Wiegele said: “I had a good finish again – the same as I had yesterday and I hadn’t really thought about being in the lead or tied for the lead because Marcus was playing so well and I was three behind at one point and I just wanted to get in to a good position and birdie/birdie finish is always great.
“I was a little nervous at the start today, being in the last game of my first European Tour event but then I got a bit more solid with my swing and I played really well after that. I might be a little nervous tomorrow but a little bit of nervousness is always good for you I think.”
Ryles – who played in the last group alongside his European Challenge Tour colleagues Fraser and Wiegele – went to four under for the day before dropping two shots at the 12th an 13th. But he put himself right back in contention with an eagle three at the par five 15th.
“That was a big, big eagle,” said the 23 year old. “I was swithering about whether or not to go for the green in two but I decided to go for it and hit a great three wood 248 yards onto the green and then sank a 40 foot putt for eagle.”
Coltart admitted that he could not get his putter going – but made no excuses, despite the two hour delay.
“I played all right but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said the 33 year old. “I didn’t really roll any big putts in and get on a roll. You needed to be three or four under for the front nine and I bogeyed the seventh to get back to level for the nine so that was a bit of sticking point – I didn’t really get off to a start.
"The delay didn’t really affect me because nothing was really going for me anyway. I was kind of hoping that when I went back out there I could have turned things around but I left a birdie putt something like three feet short so that wasn’t what I hoping for. It sort of signified the kind of charge I was making – the one that never got off the ground!”
Jesus Maria Arruti from Spain, Australian Steven Bowditch, Swede Kalle Brink, Welshman Garry Houston and Belgian Nicolas Vanhootegem are all one shot behind Coltart on ten under par.
