Back-to-back rounds of 68 at the D&D Real Czech Masters leave John Murphy in a strong position for a top-20 as he finished the penultimate round of the tournament on ten-under-par.
England’s Matt Wallace and Finland’s Sami Välimäki share the lead on sixteen-under-par with the overnight leader heading into today’s action, Nicolai Højgaard a shot further back on -15.
Padraig Harrington’s one-over-par third round leaves the distinguished golfer in a share for 60th in the standings alongside three others on four-under-par overall.
In a tournament with Irish eyes glued to the performance of Ryder Cup hopeful Shane Lowry, Murphy has been the stand-out Irish player over the three days. He continued his strong run of form today and finished today tied for 20th heading into the final round.
The round got off to a strong start with the Kinsale native beginning his round one under par through the first two holes thanks to a birdie on the second. A steady run of pars between the third and eighth holes kept his score for the day in tbered, but the turn for the back nine is where the 25-year-old made hay.
A birdie on the ninth sent the Cork man into the back nine on two-under for the day but this quickly turned to four-under for his round with consecutive scores in the red on the 10th and 11th.
An even-keeled ending to the day with a host of pars was just the finish Murphy needed as the young Irishman completed a bogey-free third round and now looks towards his first final-round appearance in six attempts.
Harrington’s over-par round of 73 leaves the Dublin man six shots back of Murphy but will feel that he can certainly improve in his final round.
It all started off well for Harrington who mirrored Murphy’s opening with a birdie on the second to bring him to six-under-par for the tournament. Solidity in the form of nine consecutive pars made up what looked like a pretty solid round for the three-time major winner before improving his score further.
Two birdies in a row on the 12th and 13th put Harrington eight-under for the tournament and looking towards a strong finish to the tournament – but then came the 16th.
A triple bogey on the par-three 16th undid all of Harrington’s good work across the opening 15 holes, and a bogey on the 17th compounded the golfer’s misery as he saw his round disintegrate into an over-par performance.
Murphy gets his final round underway at 11:01 a.m. tomorrow morning alongside Sweden’s Jens Dantorp while Harrington tees off at 7:42 a.m. alongside Mateusz Gradecki of Poland.
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