Southport’s Lee Slattery in pole position in Prague
Southport’s Lee Slattery fired an excellent 67 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the D+D REAL Czech Masters after a marathon day at Albatross Golf Resort.
The Englishman shot a brilliant 65 on day two in tough conditions before the course became flooded, leaving many of his competitors with over 30 holes to play on Saturday.
He was one shot ahead at the start of the day but found himself three behind countryman Chris Hanson by the time round two was completed.
Hanson did lead by four at one point but as he and some of the rest of the field began to fatigue, Slattery put his foot on the pedal, moving to 12 under and the 54-hole lead for the fourth time in his European Tour career.
Both of his previous European Tour victories came after leading after three rounds and win number three could be part of a double celebration, with his wife over a week overdue with the couple’s second child.
South African Haydn Porteous played 33 holes on Saturday but battled well to shoot a third-round 67 and sit at ten under.
Swede Pontus Widegren was then at eight under, a shot clear of Hanson and fellow Englishman Jonathan Thomson who was making his European Tour debut.
Slattery found the green in two at the par five first for an opening birdie but with Hanson starting with two gains, he was four shots off the lead.
But as Hanson fell back, Slattery pushed on, putting his approach at the sixth to six feet and another excellent iron into the ninth gave him the lead at the turn.
A brilliant tee-shot into the par three 13th moved the 39 year old to 11 under and a fifth birdie of the day from six feet on the 15th put him in control.
In the four weeks off, although there has been a lot of things going on at home, I managed to get a lot of practice in and sharpen things up – Lee Slattery
“I hit a couple of loose shots on the front nine early on but hit great chips to follow them up and managed to salvage the pars so it kind of kept a bit of the momentum going,” said Slattery.
“Then after that really I didn’t hit anything badly off line, so I didn’t really get into any trouble, I felt like I left a couple out there on the back nine but in general it was a pretty flawless round.
“The swing has been good the last few weeks. I’d run into a little bit of form starting in Ireland and obviously that top ten in Scotland gave me a bit of confidence and I kind of knew I was nearly there. So in the four weeks off, although there has been a lot of things going on at home, I managed to get a lot of practice in and sharpen things up.
“I think it was very important to have a long rest and get out there today, you could tell towards the end the guys who I was playing with today, Morrison and Hanson, they looked tired, they’ve had a long day and they made some mistakes towards the end which sort of opened that lead up a little bit.”
Porteous made a birdie-birdie start and a brilliant tee-shot into the par three seventh had him at eight under. He got on the par five tenth in two and when he holed from eight feet on the 12th he was in a share of the lead.
Slattery then pulled away and a Porteous bogey on the 17th meant the lead was three shots but the 23 year old holed a ten-footer on the last for a birdie in the fading light.
Widegren birdied the first and sixth and when the Qualifying School graduate hit a brilliant second out of the bunker into the eighth, he was eight under. He then went bogey-birdie on the 14th and 15th on the way home.
Hanson holed some clutch putts for par on the back nine but also made two doubles and three bogeys in a 75.
Thomson – a tournament invite – gave back gains on the eighth and tenth with a double-bogey on the 11th but then birdied four of his next five in a 68.
English duo James Morrison and Callum Shinkwin, last week’s winner Julian Suri, Austrian Martin Wiegele and Dane Jeff Winther were then all at six under.
Read more at http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2017/tournamentid=2017072/news/newsid=330386.html#koIkv22tMGbloSHW.99
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