David Park will go into the final round of his European Tour debut with a one shot lead after a third round of 68, four under par.
With three holes to play the Welshman, who has led from the start, was five clear of the field after picking up eight birdies in his opening 15 holes but a lapse of concentration cost him three shots and allowed Sweden’s Eric Carlberg to close the gap to one.
Park, who celebrates his 25th birthday next week, raced to the turn in 32 after picking up five birdies and dropping just the one shot on the fourth. Another three birdies on the 11th, 12th and 15th took him to 15 under par but the former Walker Cup player finished poorly to close on 12 under..
He said: “It was a very disappointing end to the round. I hit a couple of bad shots towards the end. Felt I was playing reasonably well and got distracted on 16 and 17. I’m not trying to make excuses. I just lost my concentration a couple of times and 18 was playing tough as always.
“It’s nice to be leading. Obviously it would have been nicer to finish with three pars instead of three bogeys. But there is not much I can do about it now. Just have to work at it tomorrow and see what happens. The title is there for the taking but there are 18 holes to play.”
Carlberg, better known as “Probably” on the Challenge Tour, fired a six under par round of 66 to move to 11 under par in his first European Tour event as a professional. “It’s very nice to be right up there,” he said. “This course is so hard you are going to drop some shots. You just have to try to keep them to a minimum.”
Two shots further back on nine under par is England’s Simon Wakefield, another Challenge Tour player who is playing in only his second European Tour event since turning professional in 1997. The former Staffordshire amateur champion fired a best of the day 64, eight under par, to charge up the leaderboard.
“Certainly one of the best rounds I have played,” he said “I played well in the first round and struggled yesterday. But everything went well today. I actually felt I could have been a couple better.
“I changed one or two things on the putting green last night. I was missing a few right so opened my stance and closed my shoulders. Seemed to work out there – I didn’t miss many.”
Spain’s Miguel Angel Martin and Venezuela’s Carlos Larrain are both on eight under par.
