Gavin Dear leads Dixie Amateur by five strokes

with one round to go

Perth international golfer Gavin Dear, one of Scotland's winning trio in the Eisenhower Trophy men's amateur team championship in Australia in October, is hot favourite to land another notable overseas title.
Dear (pictured right by Tom Ward Photography), a Murrayshall Golf Club member from Scone, leads the 78th Dixie men's amateur championship by five strokes with one round to play at Heron Bay Golf Club, Coral Springs in southern Florida.
He went two shots clear of the field by following up a two-under-par 70 with a brilliant 10-under score of 62 in the second round to be on 12-under-par 132 at the halfway stage.
Then Dear more than doubled his lead with a third-round 67 for an international-class tally of 17-under-par 199.
"I had a steady start of five pars before I birdied the sixth, eighth and ninth to go out in three-under 33," said Gavin.
"I got to four-under-par with a birdie at the 10th but then bogeyed the 11th and 12th before cancelling them out with birdies at the 13th and 14th. I still had one bogey to come - at the 15th - but I eagled the 16th and finished with a couple of pars. So I came home in an up-and-down 34 for 67 which I was very happy with.
"The course played tougher for the third round due to a constant wind, although not a cold one like in Scotland. A 67 was the second-best score of the third round."
Carnoustie's Keir McNicoll and another Murrayshall member, Steven Hume failed to survive the halfway cut, even though they shot level par 144, which demonstrates the standard of play by a field, consisting mainly of American college circuit players. McNicoll scored 71 and 73, Hume a pair of 72s.
Dear's closest rival going into the final round is American Vaughn Snyder, a student at Ohio State University, with scores of 69, 65 and 70 for 204.
Third on 206 is youngster Byeong-Hun An, a teenage pupil at Bradenton Academy. He has shot rounds of 71, 63 and 72.
Dear is bidding to become the first Scot to win the Dixie amateur championship, first played 78 years ago and won by players of the calibre of Frank Stranahan, Lanny Wadkins, Andy Bean, Hal Sutton (1978-79) and Jesper Parnevik (1986).
THIRD-ROUND LEADERS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
199 Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) 70 62 67.
204 Vaughn Snyder (Ohio State Univ) 69 65 70.
206 Byeong-Hun An (Bradenton Academy) 71 63 72.
207 Mu Hu (Florida Univ) 72 66 69, Drew Ernst (Coastal Carolina Univ) 74 68 65.
208 Brinson Paolini (Princess Anne CC) 66 70 72, Will Wilcox (Clayton State Univ) 72 68 68.
209 Brad Exber (Las Vegas) 69 66 74, Spencer Cole (Alabama Univ) 69 69 71, Kelly Kraft (Southern Methodist Univ) 71 67 71, Matteo Manassero (Italy) 70 68 71, Derek Rende (Tennessee-Chattanooga Univ) 69 69 71, Conrad Von Borsig (Virginia Univ) 70 68 71, Brandon Detweiler (North Carolina State Univ) 72 68 69, Romain Wattel (Bussy-Guermantes GC, France) 72 69 68.
210 Peter Uhlein (Oklahoma State Univ) 69 67 74, David Chung (Stanford Univ) 70 67 73, Michael Herbert (Circle Christian School) 75 63 72, David Johnson (Central Florida Univ) 69 69 72, Matt Kocolowski (Circle Christian School) 69 70 71, Brooks Kopka (Florida State Univ) 70 71 69, Julian Suri (Bartram Trail High School) 70 71 69.