Gary Hurley made a quintuple bogey ten on his final hole to slip six shots behind Finland’s Oliver Lindell heading into the final round of the Challenge Tour’s Hainan Open in China.

The West Waterford man was five under for the day playing the 18th and threatening the leaders when he racked up his ten and signed for a level par 72 to fall back to tied 17th on 10-under.

He’s six shots behind Lindell, who shot a 68 to lead by two shots from Sweden’s Niklas Lemke and the Philippines’ Lloyd Jefferson Go on 16-under at Sanya Luhuitao.

Jonny Caldwell shot a two-under 70 to share 25th on eight-under with Conor Purcell tied 54th on one-under after mixing two birdies with three bogeys and a double bogey in a 75.

Lindell, who has recorded top ten finishes in each of his last five starts, has never led going into the final round until this week, something he is eager to take advantage of as he bids for a maiden Challenge Tour win.

“I’ve never been in this position on the Challenge Tour where I have the final round lead all to myself,” he said. “It’s really nice and I’ll just try to enjoy my golf tomorrow.”

Lindell, who currently sits ninth in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings, mixed one birdie with one bogey on the front nine to remain towards the top of the leaderboard.

The 26-year-old then charged ahead with a flawless back-nine that was highlighted with birdies on holes ten, 13, 15 and 18.

“I had a frustrating start to the round,” he added. “I missed a couple of short putts yesterday and today it continued with a big lip out on the first.

“I stayed patient and on the back nine, I played really good golf and managed to get the round under par.

“I checked the leaderboard after nine holes and I knew that people were making lots of birdies and I was just glad I managed to play well.

“Tee-to-green has been really good. I have been feeling so comfortable on the tee and on the fairway. My putting could be better but luckily a couple dropped.”

Dane Hamish Brown, Englishman Ben Schmidt and home favourite Zihao Jin from China share fourth place on 13 under par, with South African duo Wilco Nienaber and JC Ritchie, and Swede Björn Åkesson one shot further back in seventh.