Stuart Grehan is looking more and more at home in professional company after he blasted his way to a seven-under-par 64 on moving day at the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf.
Having had 11 putts from inside 15 feet yesterday, only holing one, the Tullamore rookie was in imperious form this afternoon, making the turn in just 30 blows after carding five birdies and an eagle with just the one blemish to speak about in a thrilling front nine.
He added two more birdies at 10 and 12 before showing superb bounce-back-ability having dropped a shot at the par-3 16th; Grehan shaking off his second bogey of the day with a brilliant eagle three at 17, knowing that a par down the last would have seen him sign for a 62.
It didn’t work out that way, however, as Grehan launched a pin tracer at the 18th green only to fly everything and cop a bad lie in the bunker. He finished with a double bogey six and though understandably disappointed post round, he finds himself in a tie for 5th with it all to play for tomorrow, albeit needing a miracle to catch runaway leader, Marcel Schneider at 18-under-par.
“I had 168 yards to the flag,” he recalls of a finish best forgotten. “I hit a 9 iron, straight all over the flag but I hit it long into the bunker over the green. I got a pretty bad lie; had to chip out sideways to about 25 feet and unfortunately three putted so it was a very sour ending.
“But I played really nicely today and hopefully I can come up with the same again tomorrow. Obviously the leader is quite a bit ahead but I’ll just focus on my game and go from there.”
Just two shots behind Grehan sits Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee who continued his sound form of late with a 65 today to move 33 places up the leaderboard into a tie for 12th.
McGee’s round included five birdies, an eagle and just the one dropped shot as he goes in search of another strong finish on The Challenge Tour.
While Cormac Sharvin dropped five places into a tie for 62nd after his 73 puts him at even par for the tournament.
It’s all about Germany’s Schneider heading into the final round as he continued his dominance over the field to expand his lead to five shots on Day Three.
Any doubts about how he would handle the pressure of following up consecutive sub-65 scores were quickly eliminated as he opened with three steady pars before birdieing the fourth hole.
From there, he was relentless, and despite a bogey-free round from his nearest competitor, Norway’s Kristian Krogh Johannessen, Schneider himself did not drop a shot for the second straight day.
Through 54 holes, the 28 year old has made only one bogey, and agreed with the notion that he was playing the best golf of his life.
“I would say so, yeah” said Schneider. “It has been really, really good. My long game has been fantastic and the first two days my putter was really hot.”
“I had many, many birdie chances inside five metres and I’ll take it — I’m quite happy.”
Johannessen, who himself holds a two-stroke advantage over third place, knows that his work is cut out for him in the final round.
“Marcel is playing really well,” said the Norwegian. “I’ve got to hit it closer and give myself more birdie opportunities and continue to hit it good off the tee, because if you don’t out here you can almost lose your ball in the thick rough.”
The final round of the Swiss Challenge presented by ASG begins Sunday at 7:05 am local time, with the final grouping of Schneider, Johannessen and England’s Garrick Porteous set to tee off at 11:00 am.
Scores after round 3:
195 M Schneider (Ger) 63 64 68, 200 K Johannessen (Nor) 67 63 70, 202 G Porteous (Eng) 70 67 65, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 68 66 68, 203 M Nixon (Eng) 71 68 64, A Arnaus (Esp) 70 68 65, D Løkke (Den) 72 65 66, A Knappe (Ger) 67 67 69, S Grehan (Irl) 69 70 64, 204 P Mejow (Ger) 65 69 70, S Kim (USA) 65 71 68, 205 J Huldahl (Den) 69 71 65, B Ritthammer (Ger) 67 69 69, J Senior (Eng) 65 68 72, O Wilson (Eng) 69 69 67, K Koivu (Fin) 72 63 70, R Kellett (Sco) 69 69 67, R McGee (Irl) 71 69 65, O Lengden (Swe) 68 69 68, 206 J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 68 68 70, K Samooja (Fin) 71 69 66, D Stewart (Sco) 70 68 68, D Perrier (Fra) 67 70 69, S Manley (Wal) 68 67 71, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 66 73 67, C Blomstrand (Swe) 70 68 68, 207 F Fritsch (Ger) 69 68 70, S Tiley (Eng) 70 69 68, B Parker (Eng) 68 69 70, D Huizing (Ned) 69 68 70, 208 N Møller (Den) 70 68 70, L Nemecz (Aut) 71 69 68, D Brown (Eng) 69 72 67, G King (Eng) 71 68 69, A Chapman (Eng) 66 75 67, L Galliano (Sui) 71 70 67, 209 D Papadatos (Aus) 70 70 69, A Ahokas (Fin) 72 66 71, U Coussaud (Fra) 67 71 71, D Law (Sco) 71 68 70, B Macpherson (Aus) 71 67 71, G Stal (Fra) 71 69 69, M Orrin (Eng) 69 71 69, J Sjöholm (Swe) 69 71 69, R Kakko (Fin) 71 67 71, N Woernhard (am) (Sui) 74 66 69, 210 J Hansen (Den) 67 74 69, J Girrbach (Sui) 71 69 70, P Langfors (Swe) 70 71 69, C Braeunig (Ger) 68 72 70, E España (Fra) 70 68 72, M Schmitt (Ger) 71 68 71, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 72 69, J Pastor (Esp) 70 71 69, 211 M Søgaard (Den) 68 71 72, V Østerby (Den) 73 67 71, M Dobias (Sui) 69 70 72, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 72 70, M Fenasse (Fra) 68 70 73, 212 M Kim (Kor) 75 64 73, W McClain (USA) 71 67 74, 213 V Riu (Fra) 69 69 75, N Johansson (Swe) 69 67 77, C Sharvin (Nir) 69 72 72, B Virto (Esp) 70 71 72, C Del Moral (Esp) 72 65 76, 214 J Carlota (Por) 70 71 73, 215 P Tarver-Jones (Eng) 71 70 74, 142 H Smart (Eng) 72 70 0, O Lindell (Fin) 71 71 0, G Hurley (Irl) 70 72 0, M Ovesen (Den) 70 72 0, J Doherty (Sco) 73 69 0, J Sainz (Esp) 69 73 0, S Henry (Sco) 69 73 0, J Parry (Eng) 73 69 0, R Van West (Ned) 74 68 0, A Bernadet (Fra) 72 70 0, C Feldborg Nielsen (Swe) 70 72 0, R Enoch (Wal) 74 68 0, M Eggenberger (Sui) 68 74 0, M Trappel (Aut) 69 73 0, J Rutherford (Eng) 68 74 0, J Arnoy (Nor) 71 71 0, Ó Serna (Mex) 70 72 0, L Vaisanen (Fin) 71 71 0, J Davidson (Wal) 72 70 0, H Leon (Chi) 72 70 0, 143 E Dubois (Fra) 75 68 0, M Lampert (Ger) 74 69 0, A Gurini (Sui) 71 72 0, E De La Riva (Esp) 72 71 0, J Erkenbeck (USA) 71 72 0, J Burnier (Sui) 71 72 0, G Boyd (Eng) 72 71 0, N Marsh (Eng) 74 69 0, A Velasco (Esp) 70 73 0, B Easton (RSA) 71 72 0, A Michael (RSA) 70 73 0, C Sahlstrom (Swe) 71 72 0, P Maddy (Eng) 73 70 0, B Stow (Eng) 68 75 0, P Cohen (am) (Sui) 71 72 0, 144 J McDonald (Sco) 72 72 0, A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 73 71 0, A Altuntas (Tur) 70 74 0, M Ludwig (Aut) 70 74 0, R Finch (Eng) 70 74 0, M Hoey (Nir) 72 72 0, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 72 0, O Lieser (Cze) 71 73 0, A Boasson (Isl) 74 70 0, A Tadini (Ita) 74 70 0, M Ford (Eng) 73 71 0, J Freiburghaus (am) (Sui) 76 68 0, L Acikalin (am) (Tur) 72 72 0, 145 A Rozner (Fra) 78 67 0, M Iten (Sui) 75 70 0, K Hesbois (Bel) 74 71 0, O Rozner (Fra) 73 72 0, R Petersson (Swe) 72 73 0,146 M Lafeber (Ned) 71 75 0, R Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 73 0, R Francioni (Sui) 70 76 0, J Hume (Irl) 71 75 0, J Zunic (Aus) 71 75 0, M Armitage (Eng) 71 75 0, 147 J Sarasti (Esp) 72 75 0, G Forrest (Sco) 78 69 0, M Gaspar (Por) 68 79 0, J Adams (Eng) 76 71 0, O Stark (Swe) 77 70 0, 148 J Allan (Eng) 74 74 0, R Green (Aus) 72 76 0, S Robertshawe (Eng) 71 77 0, R Foley (am) (Sui) 74 74 0, 149 M Rominger (Sui) 76 73 0, A Ameil-Planchin (Sui) 78 71 0, 150 P Howard (Eng) 73 77 0, S Einhaus (Ger) 76 74 0, 151 S Towndrow (Eng) 74 77 0, T Murray (Eng) 77 74 0, C Doak (Sco) 76 75 0, M Rohwer (RSA) 74 77 0, A Noseda (am) (Sui) 76 75 0, 152 L Ruuska (Fin) 75 77 0, J Ramos (Por) 77 75 0, 153 R De Sousa (Sui) 77 76 0, 154 Z Felder (Sui) 80 74 0, 157 C Koerbler (Aut) 78 79 0, P Shields (Sco) 74 83 0, 159 K McClatchie (RSA) 80 79 0, ** S Hutsby (Eng) 81 WD 0, H Casey (Eng) 76 WD 0, T Gornik (Slo) RT 0 0, J Quesne (Fra) RT 0 0,
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