Higgo on course for second Canary Islands title; Hoey five back in South Africa
Garrick Higgo. Picture: Getty Images
Paul Dunne shot a five-under 66 to move up as Niall Kearney slipped back with a 72 in the third round of the Canary Islands Championship.
The Greystones man (28) made seven birdies to share 25th in 11-under, nine strokes adrift of Garrick Higgo, who carded four closing birdies in a round of 64 to continue his remarkable run of form and take a two-shot lead into the final round.
The South African is seeking his third European Tour title - and second in three weeks - after winning the opening event of the Canary Islands Swing, the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open, on the back of a top-five at the Austrian Golf Open.
A top ten at the Tenerife Open followed and on day three of the second week at Golf Costa Adeje the 21-year-old moved to 20 under par, taking his total score in 11 rounds on the Canary Islands to an incredible 61 under par.
England's Richard Mansell is his closest challenger at 18 under par after a seven-under 64 of his own, one ahead of Scot Calum Hill who signed for a 66.
Finland's Tapio Pulkkanen matched the course record with a ten under par 61 to sit alongside Australian Maverick Antcliff and England's Andrew Johnston at 15 under par and five shots off the lead.
Kearney started the day tied for 11th but after opening with back to back birdies, he double-bogeyed the par-five third and bogeyed the fourth, eventually adding two birdies and two bogeys to card a one-over 72 that left him tied for 37th in nine-under.
At the Challenge Tour’s Dimension Data Pro-Am, Michael Hoey shot a level par 72 to remain tied for 11th on 10-under, five strokes behind Jaco Ahler and Chase Hanna. Scores
Player Quotes
Garrick Higgo: "I had a nice lie (on the 18th), I've been working on my short game a lot the last three months. It was nice to hit that one pretty close. The lie was good so I knew I was going to get some spin on it.
"I was just trying to stay patient, because I'm hitting good putts. I'm hitting the ball a lot better than I have the last few weeks, so I'm giving myself a lot more chances. It's hard to stay patient when you've got a lot of putts. That shot on 15 turned it around a little bit.
"I hadn't been playing well up until Austria. But I've been working hard, so when it's going your way you just need to enjoy it."
Richard Mansell: "I've seen guys going low on this course for two weeks now. I feel like I've played a few rounds where I could have gone really low and didn't. I wanted to cut out mistakes and thankfully my short game was good today.
Holed a few putts, which for the last few weeks has been missing. I've already said if I can putt well I'll be there or thereabouts.
"The biggest mindset aim was staying gritty and not letting bad stuff phase me. I had a couple of holes where I had a wobble in the middle to back end of the front nine and my short game got me out of trouble. That's what you've got to do at this level."
Calum Hill: "It was a good score for what I had to play with. My driver wasn't behaving itself all day. On the 12th (for a par save) I yanked left, duffed the second shot, hit a very average wedge and hit a great putt. Didn't look like a four but I managed to come off with a four.
"In order for me to win I'll need a bit of help from Garrick. If he plays like he did today he'll run away with it, so I'll need a very low one and a bit of help."
Canary Islands Championship, Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife
193 G Higgo (RSA) 66 63 64,
195 R Mansell (Eng) 65 66 64,
196 C Hill (Sco) 65 65 66,
198 M Antcliff (Aus) 70 64 64, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 66 71 61, A Johnston (Eng) 68 63 67,
199 N Hojgaard (Den) 67 67 65, R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 66 67,
200 J Suri (USA) 66 69 65, A Del Rey (Esp) 69 66 65, M Southgate (Eng) 68 66 66, Z Lombard (RSA) 66 67 67, S Valimaki (Fin) 69 64 67, L De Jager (RSA) 65 68 67, D Burmester (RSA) 68 63 69, F Laporta (Ita) 62 68 70, A Arnaus (Esp) 64 64 72,
201 E RoUSAud (Esp) 67 67 67, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 64 67, A Garcia-heredia (Esp) 64 70 67, K Samooja (Fin) 65 68 68, G Porteous (Eng) 66 67 68, C Syme (Sco) 66 64 71, R Ramsay (Sco) 65 65 71,
202 E Pepperell (Eng) 66 69 67, A Otaegui (Esp) 71 64 67, Paul Dunne (Irl) 65 71 66, J Harding (RSA) 65 68 69, R Enoch (Wal) 65 68 69, O Fisher (Eng) 66 66 70, A Cockerill (Can) 65 66 71,
203 G Forrest (Sco) 67 68 68, M Pavon (Fra) 66 69 68, S Heisele (Ger) 68 69 66, T Gandy (Imn) 70 63 70, S Hend (Aus) 67 66 70,
204 F Zanotti (Par) 70 65 69, R Bland (Eng) 69 66 69, D Whitnell (Eng) 68 66 70, S Soderberg (Swe) 69 65 70, M Kawamura (Jpn) 70 66 68, P Figueiredo (Por) 70 66 68, Niall Kearney (Irl) 68 64 72, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 66 66,
205 J Senior (Eng) 67 68 70, S Kim (USA) 71 64 70, S Sharma (Ind) 67 71 67, N Bertasio (Ita) 68 70 67, J Guerrier (Fra) 69 69 67,
206 R Santos (Por) 67 68 71, E Molinari (Ita) 70 66 70, S Fernandez (Esp) 63 71 72, G Bhullar (Ind) 69 67 70, E De La Riva (Esp) 68 68 70, L Canter (Eng) 70 67 69,
207 J Veerman (USA) 70 66 71, P Peterson (USA) 69 65 73, D Coupland (Eng) 68 68 71, P Angles (Esp) 65 71 71, J Kaske (Fin) 69 68 70, J Stalter (Fra) 64 69 74, A Quiros (Esp) 67 70 70,
208 J Walters (RSA) 72 64 72, L Van Meijel (Ned) 68 70 70, V Dubuisson (Fra) 69 69 70, M Jordan (Eng) 68 70 70, T Plumb (Eng) 68 70 70,
209 J Campillo (Esp) 66 69 74, S Chawrasia (Ind) 68 68 73,
210 S Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 67 69 74, L Claverie (Esp) 67 71 72, R Langasque (Fra) 69 69 72, O Lieser (Cze) 70 68 72,
212 A Sandhu (Ind) 71 65 76,
214 O Wilson (Eng) 73 65 76,
217 M Schmitt (Ger) 67 69 81,
218 C Pigem (Esp) 72 66 80
