Stuart Grehan will have to do it the hard way if he’s to taste glory in the European Amateur Championship at Vasatorps Golfklubb in Helsingborg, Sweden as he finds himself three back going into the final round.
The restored amateur began the penultimate round two back, but in extremely testing conditions in which only five of the 100 players to survive the 36-hole chop shot rounds in red figures, a three-over 75 only saw him lose one shot to the lead although it’s now a different man he’s chasing.
Despite an opening bogey, the County Louth was one-under through three thanks to back-to-back birdies but a double bogey-bogey finish to the front nine proved costly. A birdie on 12 helped the cause, but two more bogeys over the closing stretch dropped him back to level-par overall for the tournament and into a share of seventh.
Roscommon’s Thomas Higgins continued his climb up the leaderboard thanks to a one-over 73 that was enough to climb up into a share of 16th at +3.
Matthew McClean’s week has ended, however, as the Malon man failed to make it into the top 60 and ties who will contest the final round.
The lead is held by Germany’s Finn Koelle, Denmark’s Kristian Bressum and Filip Jakubcik of the Czech Republic in a three-way tie at -3. At ninth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Jakubcik is the highest-ranked player in contention, but there is a real international flavour to the leaderboard with a Finnish man, a Dutch, an Italian, an Irishman and a Scotsman rounding out the top eight.
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