Italian goes clear of McArthur
with one round to play

Gregory Molteni will go into the final day of the Reale Challenge de España perfectly placed to make it back-to-back Italian winners on the European Challenge Tour after opening up a two stroke lead in Madrid.
Molteni shot a superb 67 to move to 12 under par for the tournament and clear of overnight leader Andrew McArthur going into the final round at the Casino Club de Golf Retamares.
While World Champions Italy are one of the favourites to win Euro 2008, Molteni is now in pole position to follow countryman Alessandro Tadini’s win at the Oceânico Group Pro-Am Challenge last week with an victory of his own, and ensure the Italians also grab the headlines on the golf course.
After dropping a stroke on the first hole, Molteni shot two birdies before slipping back to level par
ith a bogey on the fourth. He then birdied the fifth before stepping it up a gear on the back nine with successive birdies on the tenth and 11th, before an eagle 3 on the 13th cemented his place at the top of the leaderboard.
McArthur lost his advantage after an even par round of 72, to stay on ten under par for the tournament. Swede Rikard Karlberg shot a 67 to move into a share of third place on nine under par, where he is joined by Chilean Mark Tullo.
THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 216 (3 x 72)
204 G Molteni (Ita) 67 70 67.
206 A McArthur (Sco) 69 65 72.
207 R Karlberg (Swe) 69 71 67; M Tullo (Chi) 70 69 68.
208 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 70 71 67.
210 V Blazquez (Esp)67 74 69; E De La Riva (Esp) 68 71 71; L Saltman (Sco) 66 75 69;
211 J McLeary (Sco) 65 72 74; O Whiteley (Eng) 69 71 71; W Besseling (Ned) 70 68 73;
212 B Pettersson (Swe) 70 72 70; M Searle (Eng) 72 70 70; G Maybin (Nir) 71 68 73; G Davies (Eng) 69 69 74; C Russo (Fra) 69 69 74.
Other scores:
214 R Ramsay (Sco) 70 73 71 (jt 24th).
222 S Jamieson (Sco) 69 75 78 (jt 56th).