FORSYTH BATTLES ON BUT WIND-TAMER FICHARDT LEADS BY FIVE

Saint-Omer Open Reprt

From Sarah Gwynn at Lumbres, France

sgwynn@europeantour.com

Alastair Forsyth battled to a three over par 74 in the third round of the Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC, where strong winds wrecked the challenges of many players.

Only South African Darren Fichardt seemed immune to the testing conditions at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club as he fired a 69 to lead by five shots. Only two players are under par for the tournament, and Forsyth was disappointed not to have also stayed in the red as he heads into the final round two over par and in joint eighth place.

“It was close to being unplayable,” said the 36 year old. “One of the guys in my group said his ball moved on the tenth green, and it was about as windy as you can get without it being called off.

“You just have to get on with it and grind it out. I did the hard stuff well but had a couple of silly three-putts and a couple of poorly struck shots which cost me. I’m a wee bit disappointed not to have moved up the leaderboard today because overall I’m playing nicely.

“Fair play to Darren to shoot a score like that today. Anything under par is fantastic. He’s running away with it and will be difficult to catch tomorrow. If conditions are like this again tomorrow no one will be shooting six under, so it’s his to lose and anything can happen in wind like this.”

Fellow Scots Craig Lee and Lloyd Saltman both carded rounds of 77 to slip to eight over, the same score as Chris Doak, who signed for a 74. Raymond Russell also had a 74 to move to four over.

South African Darren Fichardt is on course to claim his third European Tour title after a quite superb two under par 69 in the third round of the Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC.

As the rest of the field toiled in the strong winds, Fichardt accelerated into a five shot lead thanks to a blistering front nine, which featured five consecutive birdies from the fifth hole.

Overnight leader Sihwan Kim of Korea endured a torrid start, dropping six shots in his opening seven holes and ultimately signing for an 81, and so tricky were the conditions that Simon Wakefield was the only other player in the red, a third round 72 leaving him in second place at two under.

Fichardt made light work of the wind, however, and even bogeys at the 12th, 13th and 17th could not prevent him from taking a sizeable lead into the final day of the €500,000 event, which is dual-ranked between The European Tour and the Challenge Tour.

“I knew it would be a hectic day when we started,” said the 37 year old. “But it turned out to be absolutely brutal. The string of birdies on the front nine helped separate me from the rest of the field and it was just a question of hanging on on the back nine. The birdies were a combination of hitting it close and holing some good putts.

“The back nine was something else. I was having to smash drives just to reach the fairway.  I definitely needed all my experience and patience today.

“Last week (when he was tied 14th at the Nordea Masters) helped a lot, as that was a brutal golf course with difficult greens, and I just had to keep plugging away. If you make a bogey, you just have to shrug it off and move on, because everyone is going to make bogeys in conditions like these.”

Fichardt has two European Tour titles to his name – the 2001 Sao Paulo Brazil Open and the 2003 Qatar Masters – and has also played in the World Cup, appearing alongside Retief Goosen in 2000.

Asked whether his experience of winning will stand him in good stead for the final round, Fichardt said: “Definitely. It has been quite a few years since I won on The European Tour, but I’ve won a couple of titles in South Africa in the last couple of seasons. I know what it takes to get the job done and it’s all good experience.

“But golf is an unpredictable game and tomorrow could bring anything. I’ll just keep playing my game and try to get over the line.”

LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71)
206 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 68 69 69
211 Simon Wakefield (England) 67 72 72
213 Mark Tullo (South America) 78 68 67, Gary Lockerbie (England) 69 75 69, Wil Besseling (Netherlands) 71 69 73
214 Pelie Edberg (Sweden) 70 72 72, Adam Gee (England) 67 72 75
215 Mikael Lundberg (Sweden 73 74 68, James Heath (England) 71 70 74, Alastair Forsyth (Scotland) 69 72 74, Andrea Perrino (Italy) 73 68 74, Simon Thornton (Ireland) 71 69 75

REST OF SCOTS' SCORES
217 Raymond Russell 68 75 74 (T20)
221 Chris Doak 75 72 74, Craig Lee 72 72 77, Lloyd Saltman 70 74 77 (T52)

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