Paul McGinley continues to show some great form and a third round of 66 at the Staysure British Seniors at the London Club was the second best round of the day.
McGinley now finds himself in T9 position on ten under par heading to the final day, just five shots behind the leaders, Santiago Luna who kept up his string of 67’s, with his third in as many days and Greg Turner.
Brendan McGovern unfortunately couldn’t recreate his heroics of Friday and he returned a 73, the same score as Des Smyth, which leaves both players in a tie for 44thspot on one under par, one stroke ahead of Ronan Rafferty who is on level par after a third round 75.
Three-time Staysure Tour winner Luna set his sights on his fourth title as he made two birdies and one bogey on his front nine, before he returned to the clubhouse bogey-free with two further gains plus an eagle on the 18th hole to move to the top. One of ten eagles on the final hole during the third round, Luna was delighted with his finish and his position ahead of the final day at London Golf Club.
“On the 18th my drive was huge. My second shot was a sand wedge, so I had a chance to leave the ball close, and to hole an eagle putt felt very good,” he said. “There is still one more round to play, but I’m very happy with my position, how I’m playing, how I’m putting and how I’m hitting the ball.
“I’m really happy because I’m playing the golf course with a good mind. It would be nice to lift the trophy again, but I’m four years older now, so it’s nice to be challenging.”
Turner, who held the overnight lead with Magnus P Atlevi, made four birdies and dropped two shots on Moving Day to remain at the top of the leaderboard. While Atlevi could not improve on his halfway score as he carded a round of 72, level par, to sit two shots behind the leaders.
Still in contention with a chance of winning on the over-50’s circuit for the first time, Turner is excited about playing alongside a familiar face on the final day.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Santi is a good player, we’re good mates and we played a practise round together this week, so it’ll be fun playing with him,” he said. “However, it’s not just him and I up at the top as it’s a pretty busy leaderboard.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, I just want to drive the ball like I did on the first two days and hopefully we’ll see a few putts go in. I battled away today and 70 was an accurate representation of the way I played.”
Mauricio Molina moved into contention with the low round of the day, a seven under par round of 65, to lie three shots off the lead. Also, on 12 under par is Stephen Dodd, Colin Montgomerie and Jean-François Remésy, who are within striking distance to claim their second Staysure Tour titles of 2018.
Scores after round three:
201 S Luna (Esp) 67 67 67, G Turner (Nzl) 66 65 70,
203 M Atlevi (Swe) 67 64 72,
204 J Remesy (Fra) 66 68 70, C Montgomerie (Sco) 63 72 69, S Dodd (Wal) 72 65 67, M Molina (Arg) 70 69 65,
205 J Sandelin (Swe) 65 69 71,
206 P Baker (Eng) 65 70 71, M Martin (Esp) 70 66 70, C Williams (RSA) 69 69 68, P McGinley (Irl) 68 72 66, B Lane (Eng) 68 72 66,
207 P Golding (Eng) 72 67 68, P Price (Wal) 72 68 67, P Streeter (Eng) 69 68 70, G Orr (Sco) 66 73 68,
208 A Oldcorn (Sco) 67 68 73, P Broadhurst (Eng) 68 69 71, P Eales (Eng) 68 71 69, D Shacklady (Eng) 69 70 69, M Brier (Aut) 72 66 70,
209 M Harwood (Aus) 69 71 69, J Kingston (RSA) 66 70 73, M Mackenzie (Eng) 67 69 73, C Dennis (USA) 64 73 72, M Mouland (Wal) 71 68 70, S Brown (Eng) 68 71 70,
210 R Drummond (Sco) 72 69 69, T Milford (Eng) 71 68 71, J Coceres (Arg) 67 72 71, R Gomez (Arg) 73 69 68,
211 G Manson (Aut) 67 71 73, R Chapman (Eng) 72 70 69, P Scott (Eng) 73 63 75, P Wesselingh (Eng) 72 67 72,
212 C Monasterio (Arg) 76 69 67,
213 G Wolstenholme (Eng) 69 71 73, J Cheetham (Eng) 68 75 70,
214 D Gilford (Eng) 69 70 75, P Wilson (Eng) 70 72 72, J Kemp (Eng) 71 74 69, M Ridley (Eng) 72 69 73,
215 G Rusnak (USA) 71 71 73, A George (Eng) 74 68 73, J Bevan (Eng) 72 72 71, B McGovern (Irl) 74 68 73, P Fowler (Aus) 70 75 70, D Smyth (Irl) 72 70 73, C Rocca (Ita) 68 70 77, G Wall (Aus) 70 75 70,
216 J Lomas (Eng) 75 69 72, T Thelen (USA) 69 76 71, J Van De Velde (Fra) 69 73 74, A Bossert (Sui) 74 71 71, R Rafferty (Nir) 72 69 75, P O’Malley (Aus) 71 69 76,
217 G Marks (Eng) 73 71 73, M Macara (Wal) 71 72 74,
218 M McNulty (Irl) 74 70 74, B Longmuir (Sco) 72 70 76,
219 G Ryall (Eng) 72 72 75, S Tinning (Den) 73 70 76,
220 P Gresswell (Eng) 73 72 75,
221 M Farry (Fra) 72 73 76,
224 G Carter (Eng) 75 70 79, G Brown (Eng) 72 71 81,
225 J Hall (Eng) 75 70 80,
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