SENSATIONAL 61 GIVES CRAIG LEE CONTROL OF EURO MASTERS
CRAIG LEE, today's picture by Getty Images(c)
REPORT FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Craig Lee missed out on carding the lowest round in European Tour
history, but the Scot seized control of the Omega European Masters with a
sensational ten under par round of 61 in Switzerland.
The former Scottish assistants champion from Stirling certainly gave a sterling performance at
Crans-sur-Sierre, starting his third round with six consecutive birdies
then and adding two more before reaching the turn in 28, with his only
par on the front nine coming on the seventh hole.
When he picked up a further shot on the tenth, Lee was firmly on course
to card the first sub-60 round in the history of The European Tour, but
after a par on the 11th hole, a bogey on the 12th momentarily halted his charge towards the magical 59.
He responded with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes,
taking his tally for the round to 11, meaning he only needed to pick up
two more shots from his remaining four holes to create history, with the
European Tour record 12 birdies in a round also
on the cards.
However, he could not take advantage of the par five 15th hole and three
more pars followed, as he eventually signed for a career-best round of
61, some ten shots lower than his opening effort on Thursday.
By the end of his charge up the leaderboard, Lee had moved to 16 under
par 197 and had opened up a two stroke lead over 2011 champion Thomas
Björn of Denmark (67), Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares (65) and Frenchman
Victor Dubuisson, who share second place on 14
under par.
"It was comfortably my best round ever,” said Lee. “Even as an amateur
or in a bounce game, I’ve never managed to get to double figures.
"So this is my best round by far. You just try to focus on each shot you
play though. When you hit it, and it is executed properly and you see
it flying down the pin, it is pretty special.
"For the first 12 or 13 holes that was what was happening. It was pretty
surreal to see all these good golf shots coming out in the same day.
I’ve been playing quite nicely for a while so it has all come together."
He added: "I would like to have had a heart rate monitor on. From the first, I don’t think my heart got under 100bpm.
"There were certain crucial putts that got the heart going and I don’t
think it ever slowed down. I’m still not really ready to relax."
Lee, who started the week in 108th position on The Race to Dubai,
admitted that thoughts of a 59 crept into his mind on the back-nine, but
the 36 year old’s attention will now be focused on trying to win a
maiden European Tour title.
“The last three events I have been eyeing up trying to keep my card for
next year and now I find myself in a position where I am trying for my
first win,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to try to change your mind-set
overnight but I have been in this position before,
so hopefully I can switch it and make some more birdies tomorrow.”
Dubuisson eagled both the seventh and 15th holes en route to his round of 66, but bogeyed the last, while Cañizares had five birdies and an eagle on the 14th hole in his 65.
Björn’s round might not have been quite
as spectacular, but the Dane knows how to win around Crans-sur-Sierre
following his victory two years ago, and his experience could prove
vital.
“It was a very controlled round to be honest,” he said. “It I just tried
to stay out of trouble and take a few chances here and there. I
succeeded pretty well in that. It was a solid round and I never got
ahead of myself. I knew there were always going to
be opportunities and I’m happy with the day’s work.
“We saw Craig was nine under through ten holes. You can’t help but see
stuff like that. You just want him to shoot 59 when someone gets so
close like that. It was a remarkable round because it was tricky today
and windy, so all credit to him.”
Another former champion, Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez (69), is five
shots off the pace on 11 under par in a share of fifth position with
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (69), winner of the Johnnie Walker
Championship at Gleneagles a fortnight ago.
THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71)
197 C Lee (Sco) 71 65 61
199 T Björn (Den) 66 66 67, A Cañizares (Esp) 69 65 65, V Dubuisson (Fra) 68 65 66
202 T Fleetwood (Eng) 65 68 69, M Jiménez (Esp) 65 68 69
203 R Fisher (Eng) 71 69 63, B Koepka (USA) 68 66 69
204 S Gallacher (Sco) 67 65 72
205 D Willett (Eng) 69 64 72, P Casey (Eng) 65 69 71
206
D Ulrich (Sui) 71 69 66, R Finch (Eng) 67 66 73, R Sterne (RSA) 69 66
71, B Rumford (Aus) 68 68 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 68 69 69,
207
S Hend (Aus) 69 70 68, G Havret (Fra) 68 69 70, A Dodt (Aus) 69 72 66,
M Tullo (Chi) 68 66 73, J Quesne (Fra) 72 69 66, T Jaidee (Tha) 68 69
70, P Harrington (Irl) 70 65 72,
208
A Que (Phi) 70 70 68, S Benson (Eng) 70 68 70, M Fraser (Aus) 69 71 68,
S Dyson (Eng) 71 69 68, T Lewis (Eng) 71 70 67, P Lawrie (Sco) 68 70
70, S Dodd (Wal) 69 72 67, K Horne (RSA) 69 69 70
209
S Wakefield (Eng) 72 69 68, B Henson (USA) 67 72 70, G Fernandez-Castaño
(Esp) 70 67 72, M Korhonen (Fin) 72 69 68, G Bourdy (Fra) 69 71 69, A
Lahiri (Ind) 63 71 75, S Kapur (Ind) 70 69 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 69 69
71, G Maybin (Nir) 70
69 70, L Hao-Tong (Chn) 68 69 72, J Van Zyl (RSA) 68 68 73, G Bhullar
(Ind) 68 71 70, D Howell (Eng) 70 67 72
210 J Luiten (Ned) 70 71 69, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 67 72 71, S Hansen (Den) 69 71 70, J Olazábal (Esp) 67 71 72
211 C Nirat (Tha) 71 70 70, A Wall (Eng) 70 71 70, M Manassero (Ita) 70 69 72
212 S Henry (Sco) 70 70 72, E De La Riva (Esp) 68 71 73
213 R Coles (Eng) 69 71 73, K Broberg (Swe) 70 68 75, J Gonnet (Fra) 72 69 72, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 71 68 74
214 J Campillo (Esp) 71 70 73, E Amacher (am) (Sui) 72 69 73
215 M Hoey (Nir) 67 73 75, A Tadini (Ita) 68 73 74, S Barr (Aus) 69 72 74, C Cévaër (Fra) 70 71 74
217 O Fisher (Eng) 77 64 76, K Pratt (Aus) 71 69 77
218 S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71 77, J Moore (USA) 69 72 77, T Levet (Fra) 68 72 78
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
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