Sebastian Heisele has a chance to win the Road to Mallorca Rankings after playing his way into a share of the lead on moving day at the Challenge Tour Grand Final.
The German began the third round three shots back of overnight leader Francesco Laporta, but carded six birdies against only two bogeys on the difficult Club de Golf Alcanada layout to sign for a four under par 67 and match the Italian on six under par for the tournament.
“I came here knowing that a win could potentially put me first in the Road to Mallorca Rankings,” Heisele said. “With the way that Francesco has been playing recently that’s going to be a tough one tomorrow.
“With the weather coming in we’ll just take it as it is and manage it as well as we can tomorrow. I’ll try to post a decent round and we’ll see what happens.”
The duo will take a two-shot advantage into the final day over Jack Senior, Matthew Jordan and Robin Sciot-Siegrist, who share third place on four under par.
Of that quintet, only Sciot-Siegrist is without the virtual guarantee of graduating to the European Tour. The Frenchman came into the week occupying 37th position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, and would need to win the Grand Final to cement his place inside the coveted top 15, or finish no worse than second to have a chance.
“The weather is going to be very, very bad tomorrow apparently, so it’s just going to be a big fight,” he said. “I prefer playing in terrible weather over beautiful weather. I’m in contention, I’m happy about it, but tomorrow feels like a whole new competition.”
While the battle for the Grand Final title rages on, several players took advantage of the relatively calmer conditions on day three to put themselves in the mix for a European Tour card with only 18 holes remaining of the season.
Leading the charge for last-minute graduation is Ben Stow, who began the week 17th in the Rankings, and currently sits in projected 16th after carding a three under par 68 in the third round. With strong winds and rain forecast for the final day, the Englishman believes his style of play offers him a great chance at moving further up the leaderboard and into the all-important top 15.
“I’m hitting a lot of good quality shots and my ball flight control is really good so if it is windy, I’m actually quite glad about that because I hit the ball quite low,” Stow said. “I’m looking forward to it to be honest.”
One spot behind Stow in the projected Road to Mallorca Rankings is Rhys Enoch, who is currently on two under par for the tournament and in with a chance of graduating. The Welshman has been steady all week, carding rounds of 69-73-69 and will begin the final day four shots off the pace, but could graduate to the European Tour with a top three finish.
Bryce Easton, who made his World Golf Championships debut last week in Shanghai, came in slightly under the radar on moving day, and is now only three shots back of a top three finish which would likely see the South African earn his European Tour card.
