A fabulous hole-in-one helped France's Victor Perez claim a slender lead in the Porsche European Open as he seeks back-to-back victories on the DP World Tour.
Perez, who defeated Ryan Fox in a play-off to win the Dutch Open on Sunday, made a spectacular start to his third round at Green Eagle Golf Courses with a birdie on the first and hole-in-one on the second.
The 29-year-old holed out with a six iron from 217 yards to suddenly find himself two shots in front, having started the day two behind playing partner Jordan Smith.
After a bogey on the fifth, Perez also birdied the ninth to lead by three, only to drop shots on the 13th and 15th to fall two behind Sweden's Joakim Lagergren.
However, on a rollercoaster day in Hamburg, Lagergren made a double bogey on the 16th and dropped another shot on the last, leaving France's Julien Brun on top of the leaderboard thanks to birdies on the 15th and 16th.
That proved short-lived though, Brun running up a double bogey on the 18th after pulling his tee shot into the water, leaving Perez at the head of affairs on five under par, despite a back nine of 40 in his 71.
Brun and Lagergren share second place on four under, with Holland's Wil Besseling and China's Li Haotong on three under, Besseling having holed from 57 feet for an eagle on the 18th.
Perez revealed he did not see his ball find the cup on the second, the world number 100 having already grabbed his putter from the bag in anticipation of having a birdie putt.
“It was a perfect six iron for me, a little draw against the left-to-right breeze,” Perez said. “I didn’t actually see it.
“I birdied the first and was trying to hit a good shot, I was just trying to bounce it up, which it ended up doing. I didn’t see it, I just heard people clapping, so it was a great bonus.
“It was very difficult conditions again, I thought the course played really difficult. The wind wasn’t as obvious as I would have liked, or everybody would have liked. So you’re guessing ‘is it north, is it east, is it north-east’, so it became difficult to get distance control right.
“I hit a fair amount of good shots that didn’t end up pin-high. It was a difficult round, so anything under par I’m delighted with.”
Perez can claim a second DP World Tour title in the space of a week and the third of his career on Sunday, while also claiming one of the 10 places available in the US Open Championship from the European Qualifying Series.
Three birdies in four holes 💪@JoakimLagergren ties the lead at -7. #PEO2022 pic.twitter.com/t03pTU2OSE
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 4, 2022
“(My confidence) is quite high I’d say,” he added. “I won last week, I’m in a great position this week. Just a matter of pushing that aside and focusing on the task at hand, which is often the most difficult part because you get dragged into all sorts of thoughts that we all have at different times – whether we’re playing good or bad.
“Last Sunday I was really nervous. I hadn’t been in that situation with the lead. I’m very happy with the experience from last week that I can draw on and I know what I need to do – it’s a matter of execution and doing it.
“It would be fantastic to win. We’re getting into the summer in Europe and iconic venues one after the other, whether it’s the Dutch Open last week, this and then going into the Irish Open with all the names on it, the Scottish Open, obviously The Open.
“The course sets up really well for what’s upcoming for the guys who are qualifying for the U.S. Open. It’s great prep and I look forward to tomorrow.”
On a difficult day for scoring, Smith's 77 dropped him four shots off the pace, with world number 41 Tommy Fleetwood another stroke back following a 69 – the joint lowest score of the day - which vaulted the Ryder Cup star 35 places up the leaderboard.
