José Maria Olazábal takes a one stroke advantage into the final day of the Mallorca Classic at Pula Golf Club as he looks to emulate the successes of Sergio Garcia and Miguel Angel Jiménez and keep the title in Spanish hands.
Olazábal, chasing his first win for three years, carded a level par third round 70 to remain at six under par, a shot ahead of England’s Paul Broadhurst and Søren Hansen of Denmark.
The Spaniard is trying to follow in the footsteps of Jiménez, who won the inaugural Mallorca Classic title in 2003, and Garcia, the defending champion from last year.
Bumpy greens made life tough for the entire field, but Olazábal, one behind with two holes to play, managed to sink an eight-footer for birdie at the 17th and then saw Broadhurst three-putt the last.
“It was a big swing,” admitted 40 year old Broadhurst, who in April ended 10 years without a victory on The European Tour International Schedule when he captured the Estoril Open de Portugal Caixa Geral de Depositos.
“Going down the 16th I thought there was a chance to go two or three clear. The greens are not so good, but that’s no excuse. It’s the same for everybody and I putted badly all day.”
After a 72 he is on five under par with Hansen, who charged up from 21st position with a 66. In a share of fourth place, a shot further back, are Welshman Bradley Dredge, Mattias Eliasson of Sweden, who at 143rd on The European Tour Order of Merit needs a good finish to avoid a trip to Qualifying School, and Australian Wade Ormsby.
Olazábal, the double Masters Champion, is in the process of redesigning the Pula course and commented: “I said all this week that the greens were not in good shape. Some have a different speed to others. I don’t know if it has to do with the rain they had.”
Garcia, who played a shot from the water’s edge at the 16th with his trousers rolled up and in bare feet, missed a number of putts in his third round 71, which leaves him five adrift of the lead. “Believe it or not I still have a chance, but it would be impossible for me to shoot any higher than I have so far,” said Garcia.
Meanwhile, Sam Little of England and New Zealander Stephen Scahill improved their chances of keeping their European Tour cards with rounds of 68 and 69 respectively, to move up to tied 12th position.
A stroke further back with a three round aggregate of one under par 209 are two more players fighting to keep their playing privileges for 2006, Swede Klas Eriksson and Santiago Luna of Spain, another man for whom a ‘home’ victory would be most welcome.
