THAT MAN BROBERG IS IN THE CHALLENGE TOUR HUNT AGAIN!

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
Klas Eriksson clung onto his lead on the third day of the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn & Mercedes-Benz, but his advantage was cut to just one stroke by a chasing pack which is headed by record-seeking Swede Kristoffer Broberg. 

Broberg is in contention to claim an unprecedented hat-trick of titles after moving ominously into a share of second place after a round of 67 which, by his own exceptionally high standards, he deemed merely “average”.

Having won the last two tournaments with an aggregate score of 3 under par, Broberg has come to expect excellence and so was perhaps entitled to feel a touch disappointed with his display, despite moving to ten under par – and within sight of a place in the history books.    

Should the 26 year old overhaul Eriksson on the final day of the €160,000 event at Stensballegaard Golf in Horsens, Denmark, he would earn instant promotion to The European Tour after just four appearances on the Challenge Tour this season – and set another record in the process.

Eriksson, who signed for a one over par round of 73 for an 11 under par aggregate total, is certainly wary of the threat posed by his younger compatriot.

He said: “Golf is such a great game when you have confidence, and Kristoffer’s confidence must be unbelievably high at the moment. He must feel pretty invincible right now, and all credit to him because he’s playing some fantastic golf. We were playing in the group behind him today, and he found virtually every fairway and every green, so I’m a little surprised he didn’t go even lower than he did.

“I think his scoring average over the past 11 rounds must be about 65! No doubt he’ll go and shoot another low one tomorrow, so I’m going to have to play very well to beat him, because level par’s not going to be anywhere near good enough to win the tournament. But that focuses my mind a little bit, so I guess at least I know what I have to do: be positive, and make as many birdies as I can.”

For his part, Broberg blamed a cold putter for a round which could, with a touch more luck on the greens, quit easily have matched or even bettered Eriksson’s effort on the second day, when he broke the course record with a stunning 62. Instead, Broberg had to be content with four birdies and an eagle at the opening hole which got his history bid off to the perfect start.

He said: “If I’d managed to get the putter going I could’ve gone really low today, but it just wasn’t my day on the greens. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes, it’s frustrating but you can’t always have things all your own way. I’ve been putting very well the last few weeks, so hopefully I can get the feeling back again tomorrow. I know I’m hitting the ball well enough to win – if I can putt well enough, hopefully I’ll get another trophy in my cabinet.”

Broberg was joined in a share of second place by the English duo of James Busby (67) and Graeme A Clark (69) and local favourite Joachim B Hansen, who shot a round of 64. On a day when the Sicilian Open champion Thorbjørn Olesen conducted a golfing clinic for the fans, Hansen delivered a performance of which his friend and compatriot would be proud, notching six birdies and an eagle at the 15^th hole to surge into contention to capture his debut Challenge Tour title.

 

On a day of astonishingly low scoring, English Challenge champion Chris Paisley signed for a stunning round of 63 to join Italian Alessandro Tadini in a share of sixth place on nine under par. Paisley’s compatriot Robert Dinwiddie almost matched his score of 63, but after closing with two bogeys had to settle for a round of 64 and an eight under par aggregate total alongside Iceland’s Birgir Hafthorsson (69) and German Nicolas Meitinger (70).

 

Scores after round three:

205 K Eriksson (Swe) 70 62 73,

 206 J Busby (Eng) 68 71 67, J Hansen  (Den) 67 75 64, G Clark (Eng) 71 66 69, K Broberg (Swe) 70 69 67,

 207 C Paisley  (Eng) 73 71 63, A Tadini (Ita) 69 71 67,

 208 B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 70 69, N Meitinger  (Ger) 69 69 70, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 73 64,

 210 J Palmer (Eng) 71 70 69, M Tullo (Chi) 69 74 67, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 65 74, D Palm (Swe) 71 70 69,

 211 N Lemke (Swe) 70 72 69, S O'Hara  (Sco) 71 69 71, D Brooks (Eng) 69 71 71,

 212 C Lee (Sco) 71 71 70, S Kim (Kor) 70 73 69, A Velasco (Esp) 74 70 68, A Hansen  (Den) 72 72 68, F Christensen (Swe) 71 73 68, R Echenique (Arg) 72 69 71, M Madsen  (Den) 74 71 67, F Fritsch  (Ger) 72 73 67, T Sluiter  (Ned) 75 68 69, A Kaleka  (Fra) 71 73 68, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 75 68,

 213 M Carlsson  (Swe) 72 73 68, B Parker  (Eng) 69 71 73, R Hjelm (Den) 74 70 69, C Lange  (Den) 72 68 73, L Goddard  (Eng) 74 68 71, D Vancsik (Arg) 70 75 68, J Legarrea (Esp) 71 69 73, M Ford (Eng) 74 69 70, L Saltman (Sco) 71 71 71,

 214 S Tiley (Eng) 71 74 69, N Johansson (Swe) 74 69 71, J Parry (Eng) 72 72 70, N Møller (am) (Den) 73 70 71,

 215 A Hartø  (Den) 69 75 71, N Dougherty  (Eng) 74 70 71, P Oriol (Esp) 71 73 71, C Monasterio (Arg) 71 73 71, E Dubois (Fra) 71 72 72, J Abbott (Eng) 71 74 70, J Doherty  (Sco) 78 66 71, E De La Riva  (Esp) 72 72 71, F Delamontagne  (Fra) 66 77 72,

 216 B An (Kor) 71 74 71, J Gibb (Eng) 70 74 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 74 70 72, M Southgate  (Eng) 72 73 71, V Riu  (Fra) 72 73 71, J Barnes (Eng) 74 71 71, E Blom (Swe) 74 70 72,

 217 A Bernadet  (Fra) 75 70 72, C Russo (Fra) 70 75 72, D Ulrich (Sui) 73 72 72, L Kennedy  (Eng) 74 71 72, L Claverie (Esp) 70 74 73, A Ahokas (Fin) 70 75 72, A Otaegui  (Esp) 74 69 74,

 218 P Relecom  (Bel) 72 72 74,

 220 T Rosendahl (Swe) 72 71 77,

 221 R Steiner (Aut) 73 72 76, A John (Ger) 69 72 80, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 75 76,

 222 G Dear (Sco) 74 71 77,

 226 A Kristiansen  (Nor) 75 70 81

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