A fog-delayed beginning to the day was not the ideal way to begin the third round of this year’s UniCredit PGA Professional Championship of Europe, but it was also indicative of the approach of a beautiful, warm day at host venue Pravets Golf and Spa Resort, Bulgaria.
Early moves in their rounds from defending champion Hugo Santos (Portugal), round one leader Mikel Galdos (Spain), and the hot starter with a fantastic four birdies in six holes, Lee Rooke (Wales), ensured a similar pack stayed at the top of the leaderboard early on.
After his 64 in round-two, Benjamin Nicolay (France) initially fell back two shots to seven-under-par, but nonetheless remained solid through the middle of his round, and two birdies on the back nine ensured his share of second place overnight with 2011 champion Santos.
Chasing Nicolay’s low-round score was fellow countryman Frederic Cupillard, posting a seven-under-par 65 to leave him within three shots of the lead.
Cupillard said of his resurgence up the leaderboard, “I was pretty happy to come back close to the lead and I will try to keep the same game and find the rhythm too with my putting tomorrow, it could be ok. I didn’t miss a lot of shots so we will see.”
Sub-par rounds at the top of the pack ensured this group were all still in with a chance at taking the title in tomorrow’s final round, but Galdos came out on top for Round Three with a bogey-less six-under 66 giving him a two-shot advantage over the chasers.
Glados described his open-minded view on the final round awaiting him, “I played very well today, and I hope tomorrow I will play well…tomorrow I’ll try to play like I did today and if it’s good it’s good, bad it’s bad – no problem.”
Another day of drama and quality play awaits the fourth and final round of the championship tomorrow, and with the top 7 competitors within 6 shots of each other, it is sure to be an exciting finish to this year’s challenge.
For the full leaderboard and live scoring visit http://bit.ly/Qf5P60, and for more live updates head to the Confederation of Professional Golf Twitter account, @PGAsofEurope, or the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook page.
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