Another 66 as McGee moves up in Turkish Airlines Open
Ryan Evans. Picture courtesy Turkish Airlines
Ruaidhri McGee made seven birdies in a second successive 66 to move to within striking distance of a top-ten finish in the Turkish Airlines Challenge.
The Derry man, 26, was 89th and struggling to make the cut after carding a 72 on day one at Gloria Golf Club in Belek.
But he's made hay since then, racking up two bogeys against 14 birdies to share 12th place, eight shots behind leader Ryan Evans on 12-under par.
Evans, 30, opened up a two-shot lead over Finn Tapio Pulkkanen going into the final round, posting an eight-under-par 64 to get to 20-under-par.
“I’m delighted,” said Evans, who is seeking his maiden Challenge Tour win. “I just set a goal to go out and play as well as I have over the first couple of days and I think I played the best today out of the three rounds.
“I only missed one shot out there, which in golf is very pleasing – it cost me a bogey, unfortunately, but apart from that I hit the ball really well tee to green and rolled in a lot of putts.
“I didn’t really feel I had to attack. The course is there to be scored, if you drive it well the greens are good and you can hole a lot of putts, you have a lot of wedges in, there’s five par fives, so I’m not surprised the scoring’s good.
“Having said that, I did say during one of the practice days that I couldn’t believe 20 under had won round here last year because I thought it was really tough and now I’m there after three days!
“That says it all about the quality of the field though, everybody here is a great golfer and that’s why the scoring in general has been so low.
“I don’t mind having a glance at the leaderboard because it gives you some confidence if you’re leading to see your name up at the top there and it means you’re playing some good golf.
“I got off to the perfect start today, putting it to an inch at the first and birdieing the second as well, so that relaxed me a little bit because before you go out, seeing how well Sebastian Heisele had played, could add pressure.
“It actually just made me think that there was a score out there to be made, and gave me the confidence that if I could keep up with the guys that were scoring low it could hopefully keep me in front, so that’s the plan for tomorrow too.”
The Island's Gavin Moynihan shot a two-under par 70 but fell one place to tied 47th on seven-under.
Scores after Round Three:
196 R Evans (Eng) 66 66 64,
198 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 62 69 67,
201 M Orrin (Eng) 69 66 66, A Ahokas (Fin) 69 65 67, M Ovesen (Den) 65 71 65,
202 S Heisele (Ger) 69 70 63, J Guerrier (Fra) 65 69 68,
203 M Fenasse (Fra) 67 68 68, G Forrest (Sco) 69 66 68, B Neil (Sco) 74 64 65, M Kinhult (Swe) 71 66 66,
204 C Sordet (Fra) 70 65 69, J Makitalo (Fin) 71 65 68, A Tadini (Ita) 68 66 70, N Lindstrom (Swe) 71 66 67, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 66 70 68, Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 72 66 66, B Evans (Eng) 69 70 65,
205 O Farr (Wal) 69 67 69, B Virto (Esp) 68 70 67, L Van Meijel (Ned) 70 67 68, M Lampert (Ger) 70 67 68,
206 J McDonald (Sco) 68 70 68, M Foster (Eng) 69 70 67, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 73 66 67, R Santos (Por) 69 64 73, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 71 67 68, C Berardo (Fra) 70 65 71, E Di Nitto (Ita) 69 68 69, J Winther (Den) 68 69 69, A Turner (Eng) 65 72 69, C Mivis (Bel) 71 64 71, M Søgaard (Den) 66 67 73, S Brown (Eng) 66 71 69,
207 M Lundberg (Swe) 71 67 69, J McLeary (Sco) 71 66 70, P Maddy (Eng) 70 69 68, D Foos (Ger) 71 68 68,
208 N Ravano (Ita) 70 69 69, J Brun (Fra) 70 68 70, M Madsen (Den) 68 67 73, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 70 69 69, T Murray (Eng) 67 71 70, W Besseling (Ned) 69 67 72, M Quiros (Esp) 68 68 72, R Saxton (Ned) 68 68 72,
209 T Linard (Fra) 68 71 70, R Davies (Wal) 70 68 71, O Stark (Swe) 75 63 71, M Wallace (Eng) 70 66 73, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 69 70 70, V Riu (Fra) 67 70 72,
210 J Senior (Eng) 70 69 71, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 66 73, L De Jager (RSA) 72 67 71, M Ford (Eng) 70 69 71, C Ford (Eng) 68 71 71, D Law (Sco) 73 66 71,
211 J Mullen (Eng) 69 68 74, H McCullen (Eng) 68 69 74,
216 M Cort (Eng) 70 69 77.
