Darren Fichardt produced a remarkable fightback in brutal conditions to take a commanding four-shot lead into the final round of the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Trump International in Aberdeen, while Cameron Clark leads the Irish charge and lies tied for 22nd.
On a day when strong winds swept across the New Course and just seven players in the field broke par, Fichardt recovered from a double bogey at the second to card a three-under-par 69 and reach eight-under for the championship.
The South African leads overnight leader Keith Horne, Scotland’s David Drysdale and Sweden’s Patrik Sjöland, who all share second at four-under. Jamie Donaldson remains in contention at three-under, with Johan Edfors, Mikael Lundberg and 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie a further shot back.
Fichardt’s challenge looked in danger of slipping away early. After the double bogey at two, another dropped shot at the sixth left him three-over for his round, but six birdies over his final 11 holes transformed his afternoon.
“I’m very happy, especially where I started with a double on two. Those first couple of holes into the wind are really, really tricky,” said Fichardt.
“I didn’t think I was going to get to under-par, but luckily the last nine holes weren’t playing too tough.”
Perhaps the most important moment of his round came without making a birdie. After finding the water from the tee at the par-five 15th and leaving himself around 290 yards for his third, Fichardt produced a superb recovery to escape with a par.
“I managed to make par, so that was definitely a momentum booster for me because I was quite despondent hitting the water there,” he said.
That save proved the catalyst for a brilliant finish. Fichardt birdied the 17th before firing his approach at the par-five 18th to eight feet. His eagle attempt narrowly missed, but the resulting tap-in birdie completed a back-nine 32 and stretched his advantage to four.
Behind him, Horne battled his way to a two-over-par 74 to remain in a share of second, ending his day on a high by chipping to around a foot at the last and tapping in for birdie.
Ballymena-born Clark parred the opening par-5 for the third round in succession, but it was by no means a poor start given the conditions and difficulty of the hole. The second hole, on the other hand, could’ve spelled disaster as he made a triple bogey-seven but then played the remaining 16 in one-under to end the day at +3 and among an eight-strong group locked in a tie for 22nd and four shots outside the top 10.
Gary Murphy, the only other Irishman to make the cut, was six-over for his first 13 holes but then showed impressive resolve to play the final five in -2 and though he fell to +10 on the scoreboard, he climbed four places on the leaderboard and now lies tied for 51st.
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