Calmels looks to end dry run

François Calmels hasn’t won on the Challenge Tour since 2009. Picture (c) Getty Images Simon Thornton and Gareth Shaw will be slamming their foot to the floor in search of a big finish in the Challenge de Madrid at El Encín Golf Hotel.

As Frenchman François Calmels remained on course for a wire-to-wire win, shooting 72 to lead by one stroke on 12 under, Thornton is seven behind with Shaw three shots further back entering the final round.

Team Ireland man Thornton had three pars, three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey in an adventurous front nine before playing the back nine in three under 33 for a 70 that left him tied for 25th on five under in his first start of the year.

Shaw, the new Galgorm Castle touring professional, was far steadier all the way around but also shot 70 as he mixed four birdies with two bogeys to share 40th on two under on a tricky day just east of the Spanish capital.

“Pleased enough with a 70 today,” Shaw tweeted. “Hopefully I will shoot my first competitive round in the 60’s of 2013 tomorrow! It’s coming…”

As for Calmels, he’s acutely aware of a chasing pack gaining momentum and bidding to stop his charge towards a second Challenge Tour title and his first since 2009.

Led by Denmark’s Thomas Nørret, whose five under par 67 (the joint best round of the day) saw him charge into second spot on 11 under, there are 15 players within five strokes of Calmels going into the final round.

Sweden’s Jens Dantrop and Englishman Phillip Archer share third place on ten under, with Alvaro Velasco leading the home charge a further shot back, alongside Finland’s Tapio Pilkkanen and Frenchman Edouard Dubois.

Calmels cancelled out his three birdies with three dropped shots to remain on 12 under par with 18 holes to go.

Such has been the level of the 31 year old’s performance this week, his first bogey of the day – on the difficult 210 yard par three sixth hole – was his first dropped shot in 25 holes.

With just one round to go in Madrid, Calmels knows that if he can eliminate the mistakes from his final round then he will be a tough proposition for the chasing pack in Saturday’s final round.

“I didn’t play very good today,” admitted the Frenchman. “I made three very bad choices which all led to mistakes and dropped shots.

“Then, my putting was nowhere near as good as it had been for the first two rounds. I just had one of those days on the course where all of the mistakes were down to me, my own bad decisions.

“I really felt like I could go out there today and put another really good score together but I just didn’t play well enough.

“I just have to come back here tomorrow and try and eliminate the mistakes and putt more like the first and second rounds. If I can do that then I will have a great chance to win.”

Nørret, meanwhile, is looking to repeat his third round performance.

“I played very steadily today and didn’t get into many problems,” said the Dane.

“At the start of the round I was playing nice but couldn’t seem to get the ball close enough to create any good birdie chances, but I managed to turn that around on the back nine and made four birdies there and now I am in contention for the final round.”

Challenge de Madrid, after 54 holes

204 F Calmels (Fra) 63 69 72;

205 T Nørret (Den) 67 71 67;

206 J Dantorp (Swe) 66 69 71; P Archer (Eng) 67 67 72;

207 A Velasco (Esp) 71 65 71; T Pulkkanen (Fin) 72 67 68; E Dubois (Fra) 69 70 68;

208 S Little (Eng) 68 75 65; C Garcia Simarro (Esp) 67 72 69; S Hutsby (Eng) 66 70 72; S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 69 68 71; C Brazillier (Fra) 69 70 69;

209 B An (Kor) 70 71 68; M Lampert (Ger) 70 72 67; M Korhonen (Fin) 69 72 68; B Hebert (Fra) 71 70 68; M Zions (Aus) 68 72 69; C Aguilar (Esp) 67 70 72; J Barnes (Eng) 67 72 70;

210 R Kakko (Fin) 67 74 69; T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 72 69; M Crespi (Ita) 72 71 67; M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 73 66; D Im (USA) 68 72 70;

211 N Elvira (Esp) 71 73 67; A Domingo (Esp) 67 75 69; F Bergamaschi (Ita) 70 73 68; E Johansen (Nor) 69 73 69; S Walker (Eng) 71 69 71; S Thornton (Irl) 67 74 70;

212 D Suazo (Esp) 66 75 71; J McLeary (Sco) 71 71 70;

213 R Davies (Wal) 66 72 75; A Pavan (Ita) 72 72 69; J Lima (Por) 71 72 70; T Sluiter (Ned) 76 68 69; A Bernadet (Fra) 70 71 72; P Erofejeff (Fin) 69 73 71; D Frittelli (RSA) 68 73 72;

214 C Suneson (Esp) 71 72 71; D Dixon (Eng) 70 70 74; P Bech (Esp) 74 69 71; W Besseling (Ned) 70 74 70; G Shaw (Nir) 70 74 70;

215 A Levy (Fra) 69 73 73; M Glauert (Ger) 69 74 72;

216 T Hatton (Eng) 71 73 72; K Ferrie (Eng) 71 73 72; S Tiley (Eng) 72 72 72;

217 J Maurer (Aut) 70 73 74; J Garcia (Esp) 71 73 73; M Brier (Aut) 70 71 76; R McGowan (Eng) 71 70 76;

218 A Perrino (Ita) 70 73 75; J Glennemo (Swe) 72 71 75; M Rominger (Sui) 68 74 76; F McGuirk (Eng) 74 69 75;

219 C Lloyd (Eng) 71 73 75;

221 P Oriol (Esp) 73 71 77;

225 J Timmis (Eng) 69 75 81