Paul McBride was left rueing his finish on day three of the Challenge Tour’s Open de Bretagne in France. Following an early drop shot McBride went into cruise control firing in 4 unanswered birdies from his seventh to fifteenth hole and was sitting just outside the top 15 with two holes to play.
Disaster then struck in the form of a double bogey on the Par-4 seventeenth and The Island professional dropped a further shot on his final hole which dropped him back to a -1 total and in a tie for 37th.
Cameron Raymond carded a 71 (+1) to sit back in 47th while Gavin Moynihan was two further shots back after a 73 to end the day in a tie for 53rd.
At the top, close friends Jérôme Lando Casanova and Julien Brun recorded rounds of 66 to get to 12 under par and open up a four shot lead going into the final day at the Open de Bretagne.
Lando Casanova has not dropped a single shot all week as he aims for victory on home soil, while his countryman and playing partner Brun matched his four under par score on Saturday with a round that included six birdies and two bogeys in wet and windy conditions at Golf Bluegreen Pléneuf Val André.
Austrian Niklas Regner and in-form American Chase Hanna are the closest challengers to the home favourites at eight under par.
Lando Casanova has admitted that it took patience to battle through the weather conditions today, but was helped by playing alongside his fellow Frenchman.
“I have to be happy with this position and the way I’ve played so far,” he said. “Today was a bit more difficult, because I wasn’t feeling too good from the tee, so I had to fight a lot with the rough, with the rain, with the wind. I am happy with my score and performance, but I have to be better off the tee tomorrow.
“I am very happy with the score and my attitude today as I stayed patient and I stayed focused to keep fighting the end, so I am really happy with that.
“To be in a position to win a tournament in France, it’s great and we’re friends so this is more than great. I hope there will be less rain tomorrow so the people that came to see us can enjoy it a bit more. So, let’s have a good run and let’s have fun!”
Brun agreed that it was an added bonus to be playing alongside a friend as they pushed each other on every hole.
“I was very good today,” Brun said. “It’s never easy to be in the lead when you start the round, and this is a key round of the tournament.I am very pleased to shoot 66 today and be in a good position for tomorrow.
“Hopefully we finish it off, it was a lot of fun out there.Jérôme played very solid from the beginning to the end, no bogeys today again so we fed off each other.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can finish it off and be at the end together and battle for the title, that would be very nice.”
The final round of Open de Bretagne will get under way at 8:10am local time, with Lando Casanova and Brun being joined by Austrian Niklas Regner in the final group at 11:35.
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