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Pieters edges ahead in Denmark
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Pieters edges ahead in Denmark

Thomas Pieters opened up a one-shot lead midway through the final round of the Made in Denmark before play was suspended due to torrential rain and the threat of lightning at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort.

Thomas Pieters

Pieters arrived in Farsø in some glorious form, having finished fourth at the Olympic Men's Golf Competition and second at last week's D+D REAL Czech Masters.

He will have to wait until Tuesday to discover whether his form will bring him a Captain's pick from Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clarke, but three birdies in his first eight holes put him in the driving seat to claim a third European Tour title.

Sunday's tee times had been brought forward due to expected bad weather in northern Denmark and, after rain overnight and in the morning, play was suspended at 1115.

At that point, Pieters was 14 under, one shot clear of Bradley Dredge and Adrian Otaegui and two ahead of Joakim Lagergren and David Lipsky.

Dredge had come into the final round with a one-shot lead and was looking for a change of fortune having won two European Tour events after leading into the final round 13 times.

Otaegui had a chance to hit the summit on the first, seeing a two-footer horseshoe out, but it was all change on the par three second as Dredge got in trouble off the tee. The Welshman pulled his drive left, resulting in a lost ball, a trip back to the tee and a double-bogey.

That left Lipsky, Otaegui and Pieters at the top as they all started with three pars, with Ricardo Gouveia joining them on 11 under as he followed a birdie on the third with a chip-in eagle on the fourth.

Pieters then produced a lovely chip on the fourth to nudge himself in front with Lagergren also making a birdie to get to 11 under.

Dredge and Otaegui both also took advantage of the par five and the sixth then bore fruit for the leading challengers.

Pieters and Otaegui both added another birdie but Dredge put his second shot to five feet for an eagle and joined the Belgian and the Spaniard at the top of the leaderboard on 13 under.

Swede Lagergen and American Lipsky produced excellent tee-shots on the seventh to get to within one of the lead but they were soon two back when Pieters rolled in a 20-footer on the eighth.

The rain had started to fall heavily by that point and, with the final group on the seventh green, play was suspended.

Portuguese Gouveia remained at 11 under, a shot ahead of Germany's Martin Kaymer and two clear of South African Thomas Aiken.

Local favourite Søren Kjeldsen, Scot Paul Lawrie and Ireland's Paul Dunne were then at eight under.

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