Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee has fired himself inside the top-50 with a round to go at the Shot Clock Masters in Austria.
The only Irish survivor of the weekend cut took full advantage this afternoon in returning a two-under-par 70 to move up 14 places into a tie for 48th.
Plying his trade mainly on the Challenge Tour this season, McGee made four birdies in a fine moving day burst of scoring and will be hoping to go that bit lower tomorrow to reap the benefits of the lucrative life of the European Tour.
At the top, Mikko Korhonen produced another flawless performance at Diamond Country Club to put himself firmly in control at the end of round three.
The Finn stayed bogey-free through 54-holes with a round of 68 that moved him to 13-under-par and opened up a five-shot lead over South African Justin Walters, putting him in pole position to secure his first European Tour win in his 146thappearance after finishing in a tie for second place here last season.
The 37-year-old takes the largest 54-hole lead of the season into Sunday, after Walters missed a host of birdie chances in a level par round of 72 to stay at eight under par and one shot ahead of the chasing pack.
Australian Adam Bland, Canada’s Austin Connelly, Swede Peter Hanson, David Horsey of England, Dane Jeppe Pape Huldahl, Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Scotland’s Connor Syme and 2016 champion Ashun Wu of China are all on seven under par.
In a world first for professional golf, every player has been on the clock for every shot in Austria this week, and with no bad times recorded for the first two days, round three brought three one-shot penalties.
Austrian Clemens Prader took four seconds over his allotted 50 to take a putt on the 16thhole, becoming the first man to be issued with a penalty for registering a bad time at the event. Scot Grant Forrest and Andrea Pavan of Italy later joined him as players to be given one shot penalties.
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