Irish Golf Desk

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McGee and O'Rourke going well as Meronk dominates Turkish Airlines Open

Poland's Adrian Meronk. Picture: Getty Images

Ruaidhri McGee is just four strokes adrift of a Poland's Adrian Meronk heading into the final round of the Turkish Airlines Challenge.

The Derry man (28) followed a brace of 66's with a five-under 67 at Samsun Golf Club to share seventh place on 17-under par.

Naas' Conor O'Rourke is also making a great start to the new season and shares 25th on 12-under after a 69.

Scores

Meronk carded a seven-under-par 65 on another day of incredibly high quality on the European Challenge Tour to lead by a shot on 21-under par from playing partner and overnight leader Mark Flindt Haastrup, who shot 68.

English duo Matthew Jordan and Ben Stow are a shot further back on 19 under par.

“It was pretty solid again,” Meronk said. “I played good golf and didn’t make many mistakes so that was the key again.

“My plan was the same as every day. I changed the club for a couple of tee shots to stay out of danger but other than that, it was the same."

Hoping to clinch his maiden win on Sunday, he said: "I have been in this position before so I have some experience but I’m just going to try and play my game as best I can and try to enjoy it.

"I’ve been there before so I’ve seen my name on the leaderboard many times before and last year I wasn’t able to close it but I hope tomorrow will be the day I do. If not, that’s fine, we just move on.

"It would be great to win tomorrow. I don’t even want to think about it now; I just want to play 18 good holes tomorrow and see what happens.

"I’m just going to do the same stuff. I think my strategy is pretty good for this course and has been working pretty well this week so I’m just going to stick to it and not change anything."