Benjamin Follett-Smith closed in on a second Challenge Tour title by moving into a two-stroke lead after day three of the D+D Real Czech Challenge at Royal Beroun Golf Club, while Cormac Sharvin continues to be best of the Irish and has a top-10 in his sights.
It was a case of one step forward, one step back for the Ardglass man over his opening 12 holes as birdies at three, eight and 11 were immediately followed by bogeys at four, nine and 12, and he stood on the 15th tee at level-par for the day but losing ground.
He dug deep over the closing four holes, however, making back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 and following up with another on 18 to card a three-under 67 that takes him to -12 for the week and into a tie for 16th.
Two shots further back is Paul McBride who made a big jump up the leaderboard with four birdies on his opening nine – the back nine – and another on the third before giving back two shots on five and six. He regrouped to birdie the seventh and after the low round of the day (66) from an Irish perspective, sits T31 at -10.
Conor O’Rourke and Stuart Grehan shot matching 67s to move to -9 and -8 respectively, while Paul Dunne (-8), Michael Young (-6), Ronan Mullarney (-5) and Daniel Mulligan (-5) all shot rounds of level-par.
But it’s the Zimbabwean who has opened clear daylight at the top of the board as he signed for a seven-under-par round of 63 to reach -22 for the week, two clear of Finn Oliver Lindell who birdied each of his closing six holes to climb into contention.
Follett-Smith, who shared the overnight lead with Frenchman Maxence Giboudot, made five birdies in his opening eight holes on moving day, a start that he admits was crucial on a testing day in Beroun.
“The front nine helped me out,” he said. “Overall, I’ve been playing solid the whole week and I came out today and was doing the same kind of thing.
“I was making a few putts and hitting a lot of shots within ten feet which always helps.
“By hitting your driver well and putting well, you can get away with it a bit around here. The consistency of the golf course and how it plays has definitely helped my scoring.”
The 30-year-old, who triumphed in the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open in 2023, added three more gains in a four-hole stretch from the 12th hole to extend his lead, and despite a bogey at the 17th – his first dropped shot of the week – he remains out in front with 18 holes to play.
Follett-Smith, who currently sits 74th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, could climb as high as 26th with a win. With the top 20 earning promotion to the DP World Tour at the end of the year, he’s hoping victory tomorrow would give him an opportunity to graduate to golf’s Global Tour for the first time after narrowly missing out 12 months ago.
“I know it’s going to be tough, and I know it’s not easy to win, so I’m going to be bullish, hold myself up high and go for it,” he added.
“I think my approach this season has been a little bit different to last year because it didn’t quite work out in my favour.
“This year I’ve made a lot more cuts but haven’t had many great finishes, but I’ve been playing good golf so the results were going to come. Hopefully this week is the one.
“I think the timing is right. If I win, I would jump inside the top 30 in the Rankings which helps, and then it opens it up for two big weeks in China. Once you’re in Mallorca for the final event, it can be anyone’s week.”
Haraldur Magnus from Iceland and Giboudot are four shots off the lead in third place, with Englishman Sam Hutsby one shot further back in fifth on 17 under par. German Michael Hirmer and Dane Jonathan Gøth-Rasmussen share sixth on 16 under.
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