Matt Wallace will take a four shot lead into the final round of the Omega European Masters despite testing conditions in the Swiss Alps, while Gary Hurley sits tied for 48th.
High winds whipped through the mountain side, and Hurley carded a double bogey on his second hole and it was a battle of attrition from there. Five bogeys and three birdies dropped him back to +2 overall and he lies tied for 48th going into Sunday’s final round.
Englishman Wallace was sitting pretty at the top by the same margin at the halfway point and headed into the weekend as the only player not to drop a shot through 36 holes.
The 34-year-old started Moving Day at 14-under and it only took him two holes to card his first bogey of the tournament.
Wallace battled through the tough conditions to register a third-round of 73, mixing six bogeys with three birdies to sit at 11 under at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
“Where do I start? Brutal, really hard. Felt I hit the ball just as good, in the right areas – they were the wrong areas by the looks of it,” Wallace said.
“The other day I was saying it was cold and windy, but that was crazy, that was mental. The greens were fantastic but just really fast as well. Man, that was tough, Jamie and I are very tired now.
“Massively (proud with how I dealt with the conditions), really, really proud. I would’ve lost my head easily there from the get go; missed putt and a bogey on the second.
“It’s obviously a little easier when you have a some sort of a lead and it’s playing really hard, but I just kind of felt like it was a Major and tried to treat it like a Major where every hole is some sort of merit and I’ll learn from that in the future.
“Today wasn’t about really shooting under par, it was about keeping my lead and I did that and I will try and take the ego out of the three over, which I’m not happy about those type of scores but I probably left two or three shots out there which would have been an unbelievable score.”
Alfredo Garcia-Heredia sat in second at seven under after an impressive 71 which saw him card four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
England’s Andrew Johnston and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander were one shot further back at six under, while Alex Fitzpatrick, home favourite Cedric Gugler, Australian Jason Scrivener and Edoardo Molinari, who was one of only three players to record under par rounds, are at five under.
Jonas Blixt carded the round of the day with a 68 to climb to four under, alongside fellow Swede Sebastian Söderberg, who also carded a 69 like Molinari, Spain’s Nacho Elvira, South African Casey Jarvis, Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen and 2021 Champion Rasmus Højgaard.
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