Sharvin eases into top ten at Celtic Manor with third round 65
Scotland’s Connor Syme. Picture: Getty Images
Cormac Sharvin stormed home in 30 blows to sign for a six-under 65 and go into the final round of the Celtic Classic with a chance to challenge for his maiden win.
The Co Down man (27) is tied for ninth on 10-under par at Celtic Manor Resort, five strokes behind Scotland's Connor Syme, whose tournament-low, eight-under-par 63 gave him a one-stroke lead over halfway leader Sam Horsfield on 15-under.
Sharvin, who finished a career-best tied 15th in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Lahinch last year, has a chance to better that on Sunday.
He can take inspiration from Syme (25), who started the third round four strokes behind Horsfield but quickly made a move, carding three birdies on the front nine and five on the back nine in a bogey-free round that gives him a chance to claim his maiden European Tour win.
As Horsfield shot a bogey-free 68. Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg carded a bogey-free six-under-par 65 to move up to third place on 13-under par, one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry of Belgium, England's Andrew Johnston and Adrian Meronk of Poland.
Clandeboye's Jonny Caldwell is joint 25th on seven-under after a one-over 72.
Connor Syme: "I just played lovely, to be honest. It's obviously very nice conditions, and I got off to a decent start. I maybe didn't play the front nine as well as I'd like, but I managed to get to three-under through nine, which was great. I holed the putts that I had opportunities on so it was a nice base to build on. It was nice throughout, really.
"I felt like I played well in Austria, the first event back, but then a bit slow after that to start the UK Swing. I'm finding a bit of form. I made the cut at the Hero Open and then gradually a little bit better last week. I found something a little bit in my swing, and I'm just rolling with that really."
Sam Horsfield: "I actually stayed really calm out there. I felt like I was actually playing really well, I hit a lot of greens, and as I said walking up nine, I was just waiting for my putter to get hot. I made a few nice putts, didn't take advantage of the easy holes on the back nine, but I'm happy with the position I'm in.
"Me and Mick were just talking about it on the 18th tee, the round I played today would have been very unusual for me in my first year I came out here. I just stuck with it today, stayed patient and when I first came out I was more aggressive and more just fiery, almost. It's been a long time working, and to see that today, the result, was nice."
Sebastian Soderberg: "I'm very pleased. It was a very stress-free round really. All of my misses were on the high side, so I felt like I had a lot of easy two-putts from 30 feet maybe. I managed to sink a few good ones from 20 feet and I really got it going on the back nine, so I feel very good.
"I feel like you can be very aggressive. I did hit a few irons poorly today and on the water holes there are a few misses but I feel like if you can get in sync you can really attack a lot of pins out there, especially if the conditions are like these. There's barely any wind, so you can really take advantage."
Celtic Classic, Celtic Manor Resort (Par 71)
198 C Syme (Sco) 68 67 63,
199 S Horsfield (Eng) 67 64 68,
200 S Soderberg (Swe) 66 69 65,
201 T Detry (Bel) 67 66 68, A Johnston (Eng) 67 66 68, A Meronk (Pol) 66 71 64,
202 T Pieters (Bel) 64 68 70, C Shinkwin (Eng) 68 65 69,
203 J Mcleod (Aus) 65 69 69, W Besseling (Ned) 67 69 67, M Warren (Sco) 66 72 65, J Scrivener (Aus) 69 69 65, C Sharvin (NIr) 71 67 65,
204 R Enoch (Wal) 69 66 69, S Kim (Usa) 66 70 68, M Southgate (Eng) 67 70 67, S Vincent (Zim) 69 69 66, D Horsey (Eng) 68 71 65, S Valimaki (Fin) 71 68 65,
205 J Catlin (Usa) 68 68 69, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 67 69, J Morrison (Eng) 67 70 68, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 70 66, J Senior (Eng) 69 70 66,
206 J Caldwell (NIr) 68 66 72, L Gagli (Ita) 67 70 69, a Cockerill (Can) 70 69 67, A Arnaus (Esp) 73 68 65,
207 S Crocker (Usa) 68 66 73, N Elvira (Esp) 66 69 72, J Smith (Eng) 68 68 71, A Rai (Eng) 67 70 70, J Sjoholm (Swe) 68 70 69, S Brown (Eng) 67 72 68, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71 66, A Bjork (Swe) 71 70 66,
208 M Jordan (Eng) 68 66 74, G Migliozzi (Ita) 66 70 72, W Nienaber (RSA) 70 67 71, E Molinari (Ita) 66 72 70, O Lengden (Swe) 69 69 70, F Laporta (Ita) 69 69 70, C Hill (Sco) 70 68 70, S Heisele (Ger) 69 70 69, J Walters (RSA) 70 69 69, L De Jager (RSA) 71 68 69, D Whitnell (Eng) 72 67 69, R Fox (Nzl) 69 71 68, J Harding (RSA) 69 71 68, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 68, R Fisher (Eng) 72 68 68, S Hend (Aus) 75 65 68, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 70 71 67,
209 M Simonsen (Den) 68 71 70, M Antcliff (Aus) 68 71 70, G Green (Mas) 70 69 70, T Tree (Eng) 65 75 69, a Chesters (Eng) 72 68 69, O Farr (Wal) 73 67 69,
210 D Perrier (Fra) 70 69 71, D Burmester (RSA) 71 68 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 67 73 70, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 70 70, T Olesen (Den) 71 70 69, R Karlberg (Swe) 73 68 69,
211 M Lee (Aus) 69 71 71, R Mcgowan (Eng) 70 70 71, P Larrazábal (Esp) 70 71 70, S Sharma (Ind) 71 70 70,
212 G Forrest (Sco) 72 68 72,
213 B Stow (Eng) 68 72 73, J Suri (USA) 72 69 72,
214 N Bertasio (Ita) 71 69 74,
215 C Pigem (Esp) 70 71 74,
217 B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 70 76,
