Another stunning finish saw Belfast’s Michael Hoey recover from a potentially disastrous double bogey to take control of the European Challenge Tour’s BA-CA Golf Open, presented by Telekom Austria.
The 26 year old former British Amateur champion, who played his second round back nine in 29 shots on Friday, conjured a brilliant birdie-par-birdie-eagle finish to post a third round of four under 67 and storm to the head of the leaderboard on 15 under par 198 going into the final round at the beautiful Fontana Golf Club on the outskirts of Vienna.
Hoey had double bogeyed the tenth hole of his third round, but recovered well to establish a two shot lead over Challenge Tour Number One Andrew Butterfield of England, Welshman Mark Mouland and the Swede Steven Jeppesen, all of who remain very much in the hunt for their maiden Challenge Tour wins.
Also in contention just three shots behind the leader are South African Michiel Bothma, Englishman Marcus Higley and Austria’s Clemens Prader, while Olivier David of France is a further shot back on 11 under.
Hoey is looking to close out what would be his first professional victory and secure his place on The 2006 European Tour via the Challenge Tour Rankings, where he is currently 11th.
Having led tournaments going into the final round twice already this season – at the Panasonic Panama Open and the Texbond Challenge – Hoey feels he has the experience to finish the job at Fontana, but knows it will be a nerve wracking last day.
“There were points today when I would never have thought I was going to shoot 67,” said Hoey. “I kind of let things get to me, started to think about things too much, just like I had done in Garda earlier in the season and my caddie had a really strong word with me after I three putted the seventh and that calmed me down.
“Then on the tenth I just hit a poor drive and go into some really bad rough and made double bogey from there. It was make or break for me after that because it was a real shock to the system and I had to tell myself to relax and think less about what was going on around me and try to enjoy it a bit more.
“Tomorrow I’m going to have to be a lot more free on the course, and hopefully I have had my wobble today and that is it over with, but there are usually always wobbles during any round of golf and I just have to get over it like I did today.
“The finish was very pleasing today. I could have actually birdied the 16th as well but I missed from six feet, then on 17 I had a nice easy five iron that was all over the flag and I though was going in but it landed about ten feet behind the hole which I managed to knock in for birdie. On 18 I hit a great drive which was tough as it was into the wind but I managed to have the perfect line in to the green and I hit a great four iron that got the right bounce and stopped about three feet for the hole, which I knocked in again for a very nice finish.”
Mouland, meanwhile, carded the best round of the day – a brilliant eight under par 63 to move from tied 20th to joint second, and revealed afterwards that his old friend Colin Montgomerie had played a significant part in restoring the confidence to his game that had seen him compete at golf’s top level for two decades.
Twice a European Tour champion in the 1980’s and a man who has represented his country in no less than eight World Cups, Mouland caught up with Scotland’s Number One golfer at the Fontana Golf Club earlier in the week, while Montgomerie was promoting the 2006 BA-CA Golf Open, presented by Telekom Austria, which will form part of The European Tour International Schedule next year.
“I caught up with Monty on Wednesday and was asking him about getting the confidence back in my game,” Mouland revealed. “I’ve known Colin for years and have always got on well with him, and I knew that his game had suffered not too long ago so I wanted to ask him about getting it back.
“We had a good ten minute chat and he was saying that he had gone through and that you just have to be patient and stick with it. He was saying that confidence is making those six foot putts over and over again, which is exactly what I haven’t been doing, and when you don’t make those putts then it just gets worse and worse.
“That sounds like simple advice, but it means so much more when it comes from a player like Colin. He was happy to have a chat and try and help me out – I just have to go out and do it now!”
