Calum Hill and Jordan Smith were both feeling good about their chances of winning the 2021 Cazoo Classic despite being outgunned by Rasmus Højgaard on day three at London Golf Club.
The duo both started the day five shots ahead of the Dane but by the end of it they were three behind in a tie for second after the 20-year-old carded a blistering course record of 62 to get to 14 under.
That they both carded two under par rounds of 70 and still lost ground says more about the brilliance of Højgaard than it does of their own performances, and the pair have both been at the business end of European Tour events in recent weeks.
Englishman Smith took a one shot lead into the final round of the ISPS HANDA World Invitational presented by Modest! Golf Management two weeks ago and was at 14 under himself at the turn on day three in Ash before he came home in 39.
“Definitely a game of two halves," said the 2017 Porsche European Open winner. "You just look at the colours on the scorecard. It couldn’t have been more different, couldn’t have done anything wrong on the front nine and couldn’t do much right on the back nine. But I hung in there, we’re still in it.
"I had a lot of fun out there actually which was nice so I’m just going to continue that attitude into tomorrow.
"It’s key to be patient. You saw Rasmus out there shooting a good score early doors, so you know there’s a score out there but you just have to stay patient.
"I feel good. I’m going to clip a few to stay on top of things but I’m feeling really good, I’m liking where my game’s at."
Scot Hill shared the lead heading into the final round of last week's Hero Open and after carding a bogey free round on Saturday, he too was feeling confident as he looked for a first European Tour victory.
"I am hitting the ball nicely and played really nice golf today, so I am very happy," he said. "The thing is my misses today were in really good spots, so the game is in good shape.
"I heard my friends a couple of times out there between green and tee but generally didn’t notice them. It’s nice to have the guys here as I have not seen them in quite a while because they live down this way.
"Tomorrow, I need to be fractionally more lucky on the par fives, because I had rough breaks on all of them today and didn’t manage to birdie one of them. And then if I make two more putts I will shoot eight under and win it by about three!”
