Dan Brown will take a one stroke lead into the final round of the BMW International Open after posting another 65 on day three at Golfclub München Eichenried, but Conor Purcell headed in the opposite direction.
Two eagles in a five-under 67 on Friday saw the Portmarnock man rocket up the leaderboard, but a double on his opening hole on Saturday was far from the ideal start to round three. He followed that with a bogey on three, but to his credit, he regrouped to play his final 15 holes in -1 thanks to three birdies and two bogeys, but he slipped well down the leaderboard and goes into the final round tied for 59th.
He’s still got plenty to play for in Sunday’s final round as we’re over halfway through the DP World Tour season and his Race to Dubai ranking has him on course to lose his full playing rights for 2026.
30-year-old Brown carded a second successive 65 thanks to an eagle, six birdies and a bogey as he pipped fellow Englishman Jordan Smith to 16 under par, with his compatriot one shot back after his own impressive round of 66.
Brown claimed his first DP World Tour title at the 2023 ISPS HANDA World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics and put himself in pole position for a second victory at Golfclub München Eichenried with a superb six under par back nine.
Smith set the clubhouse target of 15 under with a par at the 18th, before Brown went one better in the following group to ensure he will be the man to catch with 18 holes to play.
The Englishman had to wait until the sixth to get his round going, tapping in from close range for birdie, before another followed from 15 feet at the next to climb to 11 under, however, he dropped his only shot at the eighth to slip back.
He took advantage of the par five 11th with a birdie from four feet to sit two adrift of early leader Joost Luiten, before following it up with another gain after an excellent tee shot to the par three 12th.
Brown birdied the 15th before the highlight of his round arrived at the 16th, driving the green on the short par four and rolling in the eagle putt to draw level with Smith, who he duly overtook with his final birdie at the closing par five.
“Not as well as yesterday,” Brown responded when asked how his game felt on the day. “I felt I got away with a couple of shots today where I was being sensible, middle of the green and pushed or pulled them – it wasn’t as controlled as yesterday, but played nicely coming in.
“I didn’t feel like I was under any pressure all day. I felt pretty relaxed and having a laugh and joke with my caddie, and then I said to him on the 18th green, ‘this is for a 29’, and then I left it (eagle putt) short.”
Smith, who has finished tied second, eighth and third in his last three appearances in Munich, will compete alongside Brown in the final group, with Dutchman Luiten a shot back in third.
“Really pleased,” Smith said. “There were a lot of good shots that I’m really happy about. Holed some nice, lengthy putts, struggled a little bit with the short putts. We’ll probably hit a few now just to dial that in, but overall, just really, really happy with how the last few days have gone and how comfortable I felt.”
Englishman Marco Penge, the 2025 Hainan Classic winner, is in a tie for fourth on 12 under with Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and American Davis Bryant.
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