Alexander Knappe will take a five shot advantage into the final round of the Cordon Golf Open despite finishing his round with an unfortunate triple bogey at Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André.
The German was in a race all of his own for most of the third afternoon, at one point moving to 18 under par to lead by nine shots, but ultimately his one under par 69 was enough to take him to 12 under par overall and extend his lead by three shots.
The 27 year old took a maiden European Challenge Tour title at the Swiss Challenge this season and, on a long day on course in Brittany, will tomorrow seek to become the first two-time winner on this year’s Road to Oman.
“It was a very long day,” he said. “It was the longest golf day I ever had I think. First of all the first 11 holes or so we were waiting all the time, then everybody in the group started playing awful and we were looking for balls, so we took so much time today.
“I was flying at seven under through 12 holes which, in this wind, was just really really good golf, but then I just lost it a little bit, and a triple bogey on 18 hurts a lot.
“Despite all that, though, I extended my lead, so I can still be happy even though I’m feeling disappointed right now with how I finished.
“Tomorrow I think will be slow again so I’m going to take a lot of energy bars with me, some food and drinks, so I have something to do when we’re waiting, and then I’ll try to be a little bit smarter in the end.
“I love the course, I always like coming to Pléneuf. When I first came here it was tougher conditions, freezing cold with no roll on the ball, but I still loved it because here you have to hit good golf shots.”
This is getting ridiculous now 🐦🔥🐦🔥
— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) September 3, 2016
ANOTHER birdie for @AlexKnappe on 12 and he's now 18 under and 9 shots clear pic.twitter.com/c0gTZGN204
Knappe was in a league of his own around the turn when a run of three birdies and an eagle had him threatening to match or beat the course record he equalled yesterday.
Dropped shots coming in will keep the rest of the field just about in with a chance of catching him tomorrow, with four players on seven under par leading the chasing pack.
Antoine Schwartz is among them and will carry the French hopes tomorrow after a 69 of his own, with Steven Brown, Oscar Stark and Daniel Vancsik alongside him, five shots behind the leader.
One shot further back, but just about still in touch, are Nick Cullen, Jérôme Lando Casanova, Matthew Nixon, Max Orrin and Duncan Stewart.
