Max Kennedy shot a third consecutive round in the 60s, leaving him five shots back heading into the final round of the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge.
Needing a good week to improve his ranking in the Race to Mallorca on the HotelPlanner tour, Royal Dublin man Kennedy followed rounds of 69 and 67 with a three-under-par 68 to leave him in a tie for seventh, five shots back of leaders, Joshua Berry and Palmer Jackson.
Englishman Berry and American Jackson both signed for 67 on moving day, which saw the duo move to 14 under par for the week. Jackson, who started the day in a share of the lead, quickly moved into the red numbers thanks to three front nine birdies. A solitary bogey on 14 was followed by an immediate gain on 15, before the 24-year-old produced a closing birdie on 18.
The American, who is seeking a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title in Czechia, is relishing the chance to tee it up in Sunday’s final group. “I love that I am in the final group and it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
“It’s a privilege and I am grateful for it, but at the same time I have a job to do and hopefully I get it done.”
“It was a solid day. I was steady and gave myself a lot of looks and stayed patient. The course was firmer today which has been a consistent theme so far this week.”
Berry made three front nine birdies before picking up another shot on the par four tenth. The Englishman dropped his only shot of the day after a three-putt on the 14th but responded with a gain on the following hole. The Englishman, who would move one win away from promotion to the DP World Tour with a second HotelPlanner Tour victory of 2025, is looking to remain grounded ahead of the final round.
“A second win would be massive, but we are a long way from that right now,” he said.
“I’ve just got to go out tomorrow and do my best. It was a solid knock; it was nice to go out on a Saturday and post a nice number.”
“There are chances out here but there are some tough holes as well. It’s about capitalising when you can and hitting the middle of the greens on the tougher holes.”
Spanish duo Sebastian Garcia and Lucas Vacarisas are two shots back on 12 under par, one stroke clear of Swede Tobias Jonsson and Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung.
The final round of the Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge gets under way at 7:10am Irish time, with Jackson, Berry and Vacarisas teeing off in the final group at 9.20am Irish time. Kennedy gets his round underway at 8.58am Irish time.
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