Filippo Celli leads by two strokes at the midway stage of Final Stage Qualifying School at INFINITUM after posting a six under par round of 66 on the Hills course in round three.
The Italian, who came through Second Stage Qualifying last week, was four under par for the day before an eagle at the seventh – his 16th hole – saw him take the outright lead and reach 16 under par for the week, two strokes clear of Spaniard Sebastian Garcia and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen who share second place.
The 23-year-old made the turn in four under par having started his round on the tenth. A birdie at the second hole – his 11th - was followed by his only blemish of the day on the third before the eagle at the seventh saw him lead for the first time this week.
Celli is now closing in on securing playing privileges on the DP World Tour, which was a goal he set himself at the beginning of the year.
“I just have to be patient, but it would mean a lot to get one of the DP World Tour cards,” he said. “It’s been the goal to finish this year with a Tour card.
“This week I wanted to be in contention at the top of the leaderboard before the last round, so I’m doing a good job for the moment but the job is not done. I know I have to keep pushing.
“The week is very long. We’re in the middle of it now with three rounds to go and I just have to be patient, be focussed and continue to play like I’m doing.”
Celli has carded rounds of 68-65-66 in Tarragona and feels his game, and in particular his putting, has been the key so far this week.
“I played very solid golf today which was the same as yesterday,” he added. “Yesterday I shot seven under par on this course and today I was six under so I’m very happy because I’m playing very solid golf.
“On the green, my putting has been really good. I’m hoping it’s going to continue like that as I’ve been rolling it well. My irons have also been very solid. It would just mean a lot to keep this up for the rest of the week.”
Denmark’s Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen occupies fourth place on 13 under par, with Welshman Jack Davidson one shot further back in fifth.
German Jannik De Bruyn is on 11 under par in sixth, and amateur Joshua Berry and Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg share seventh on ten under par.
The leading 25 players and ties at the end of six rounds at INFINITUM will secure a card on the DP World Tour.
Round four gets under way at 9:00am local time with Celli teeing it up alongside Garcia and German Freddy Schott on the Lakes course at 10:00am.
