Ireland’s Simon Thornton made a superb start to his third round at the 70° Open d’Italia Lindt to edge ahead of home favourite Francesco Molinari at the top of the leaderboard.
While the locals were out in force to cheer Ryder Cup star Molinari at the Golf Club Torino course where he learned to play, it was Thornton who birdied two of his first three holes to reach 11 under par.
The 36 year old, who won his first European Tour title in Saint Omer earlier in the year, started the day tied for the lead with Molinari and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar, but pulled clear by knocking in a four footer at the first for birdie and striking his approach to six feet at the third to gain another shot.
The 30 year old Molinari chipped to two feet at first to set up a tap-in birdie to be only one behind, with Aguilar and Ireland’s David Higgins on nine under.
The European Tour’s two longest hitters, Nicolas Colsaerts and Alvaro Quiros, were tied for fifth on eight under, with Scott Hend and Romain Wattel setting the early clubhouse target at seven under after both carded rounds of 66.
