Marcus Helligkilde carded a ten under par third round of 62 at the Swiss Challenge and will take a three stroke lead into the final day at Golf Saint Apollinaire.
The Dane made a blistering start to his third round with an eagle and four birdies on the first five holes, eventually signing for a 22 under par total, three shots ahead of compatriot Nicolai Kristensen who occupies second place on 19 under.
The 24-year-old converted the 54-hole lead he held at the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge in August, where he led by five strokes, winning his maiden European Challenge Tour title.
“It feels good,” he said. “We are playing to shoot high scores so it’s nice to be leading by three shots going into tomorrow.”
“Six under through five holes, it’s not very often that you experience that, but I just played the exact same way on all the other holes, I just plodded my way around playing conservative golf. I missed some shots towards the flags and holed some putts along the way too and suddenly you’re six under through five.
“It is playing pretty easy if you can carry it 300 yards because then you can carry the bunkers and there’s not really too much trouble from the trees.”
Helligkilde recently competed on the European Tour, securing an impressive tied 12thresult at the Dutch Open, and with the Swiss Challenge well and truly in his sights he says his focus is on sticking to his game plan and enjoying himself.
“There has almost been no wind for three days and that’s pretty crazy,” he added. “I am just going to stick to my game plan and just enjoy it as I always try to do.
“I just want to have a great time when I am out playing golf, even when I am playing bad; but it’s easy when I am playing like this to be happy - I always try to play with a smile on my face and just play.”
Four players share third position on 18 under par including Jonathan Thomson of England and Frenchman Frederic Lacroix. Germany’s Max Rottluff and Lauri Ruuska are joint seventh ahead of the final day.
The fourth round of the Swiss Challenge will begin at 9:00am local time, with Helligkilde teeing it up in the final group alongside Kristensen and Per Längfors of Sweden.
