Simon Thornton is looking to get back to the European Tour with victory in Kazakhstan. Picture by Phil Inglis.Simon Thornton believes it’s time to break his duck and win on tour after falling two strokes behind English starlet Tommy Fleetwood entering the final round of the Kazakhstan Open.

Two clear of the field overnight, Thornton shot a level par 72 and given the explosive scoring that is the norm on the Challenge Tour, it was no surprise that he found himself trailing with a round to go in the €400,000 event.

According to tour reports, Thornton’s approach play lacked the accuracy of his opening two rounds, but he was hopeful of bouncing back to form on the final day, when a maiden Challenge Tour victory would secure him a swift return to The European Tour.

Thornton said: “I didn’t play that well today – most of my birdie chances were from 20 feet or so, which obviously makes it difficult to go low. But I didn’t do anything disastrous either, so I’m still well in contention.

“Everyone says Saturday is moving day, but if you’re up near the top of the leaderboard you’ve also got to make sure you don’t move in the wrong direction.

“It’s very difficult to go low every day, so hopefully I’ve got my average round out of the way now. I’ve been in this position before and not managed to finish it off, so it’s probably about time that I did!”

Fleetwood will bid to live up to his billing as a potential superstar on the final day after a third round 66 left him two shots clear of Thornton on 13 under par.

The 20-year old Englishman has been labelled a star in the making after an illustrious amateur career which included victory at the 2010 English Amateur Championship, and ended with him being listed at the very top of the World Amateur Rankings.

Since turning professional Fleetwood has recorded two runner-up finishes on the Challenge Tour, firstly at last year’s M2M Russian Challenge Cup and more recently at the Rolex Trophy.

After a steady start the youngstarer made his first gain at the fourth hole, before adding another birdie at the eighth to reach the turn in 34.

Tommy Fleetwood is also looking for his maiden Challenge Tour victory. Picture by Phil Inglis.Another gain at the tenth hole moved him onto the shoulder of overnight leader Thornton, and he edged ahead of the Irishman with a burst of three birdies in four holes from the 14th to put the seal on a faultless display.

Fleetwood said: “I missed a few makeable birdie putts, but I can’t really complain because that was probably the most stress-free round of golf I’ve ever had.

“I was probably happier with the no bogeys than the six birdies, because it’s a tough course. I think I only missed one or two greens today, and if a couple more of those birdie putts had dropped then I could’ve gone really low, and I’d be in a very healthy position now.

“I had a winning target in mind at the start of the week, which I won’t reveal but I’m not far short of it now. If I can stay positive and keep swinging it well, hopefully it’ll be good enough.

“It’s just nice to be playing well in the biggest event of the year, and I’m really looking forward to the last round now. The way I’m playing, I wish we could start it now!”

Fleetwood will be joined in the final group by Thornton and Norwegian Knut Borsheim (71), who is  third on ten under.

Dane Andreas Hartø shares fourth place on nine under par with Argentina’s Cesar Monasterio after the duo shot respective rounds of 69 and 68.   

Colm Moriarty (73) and Niall Kearney (71) are back in the pack on one under par.

 

Kazakhstan Open after 54 holes

203 T Fleetwood  (Eng) 68 69 66,

205 Simon Thornton (Irl) 67 66 72,

206 K Borsheim  (Nor) 70 65 71,

207 A Hartø  (Den) 69 69 69, C Monasterio (Arg) 68 71 68,

208 C Gane (Eng) 70 68 70, S Walker (Eng) 72 65 71, G Dear (Sco) 74 68 66, B Ritthammer (Ger) 74 66 68,

209 A Pavan (Ita) 73 66 70,

210 A Domingo (Esp) 70 72 68, A Johnston (Eng) 68 74 68, T Ferreira  (RSA) 68 71 71, P Archer (Eng) 73 68 69,

211 J Guerrier  (Fra) 69 73 69, C Lloyd (Eng) 67 68 76, M Baldwin (Eng) 68 72 71, S Dong (Kor) 71 70 70, S Little (Eng) 69 71 71,

212 C Russo (Fra) 71 73 68, C Paisley  (Eng) 69 74 69, B Chapellan (Fra) 70 73 69, M Southgate  (Eng) 71 69 72, J Moul  (Eng) 72 71 69,

213 M Ford (Eng) 71 72 70, F Delamontagne  (Fra) 70 70 73, G Lockerbie  (Eng) 74 67 72, J Robinson (Eng) 73 71 69, L Kennedy  (Eng) 72 67 74, A Ahokas (Fin) 66 74 73, A Bernadet  (Fra) 73 69 71, M Delpodio  (Ita) 72 70 71, J McLeary  (Sco) 70 74 69,

214 P Baker (Eng) 72 68 74, C Macaulay  (Sco) 69 69 76, B Miarka (Ger) 75 68 71, A Otaegui  (Esp) 72 68 74,

215 Colm Moriarty (Irl) 68 74 73, C Suneson (Esp) 71 73 71, M Cryer (Eng) 72 72 71, D Denison  (Eng) 75 69 71, Niall Kearney (Irl) 72 72 71, P Gustafsson (Swe) 71 72 72, A Snobeck  (Fra) 72 69 74, A Marshall (Eng) 70 72 73,

216 A Tadini (Ita) 75 69 72, S Tiley (Eng) 69 71 76, L Jensen (Den) 72 71 73, C Doak (Sco) 69 73 74, L Canter (Eng) 70 74 72, S Pinckney (USA) 71 69 76, B Grace  (RSA) 72 71 73, P Del Grosso  (Arg) 76 67 73,

217 J Palmer (Eng) 70 74 73, R Santos  (Por) 73 69 75, F Valera (Esp) 71 72 74, A Butterfield (Eng) 73 71 73, V Riu  (Fra) 69 73 75,

218 B Evans  (Eng) 73 70 75, M Ruiz (Par) 70 74 74, F Praegant (Aut) 71 70 77, T Feyrsinger  (Aut) 72 71 75,

219 J Doherty  (Sco) 76 68 75,

220 P Oriol (Esp) 68 74 78, M Bothma (RSA) 75 68 77,

222 A Hansen  (Den) 72 71 79