Whiteford climbs with a 66 but Saltman crashes to a 9 in Madrid Challenge

 

By COLIN FARQUHARSON 

Fifer Peter Whiteford shot one of the rounds of the day - a six-under-par 66 - to climb into a share of 14th place with a round to go in the Challenge Tour's event in Madrid.

On the same 207 mark is former Scottish amateur champion Andrew McArthur. They are seven shots behind the joint  leaders, Irishman Ruaidhri McGee and Spain's Naco Elvira on 176-under-par 200

Whiteford reduced the outward half to 31 shots - five under - with birdies at the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. He continued the birdie-fest after the turn with gains at the 11th and 15th. 

He did not quite make it back to the clubhouse without a bogey - the only one popped out on him at the 17th. Whiteford's earlier rounds were 71 and 70.

McArthur has shot 67-72-68 and he will be cursing a sloppy start to the inward half which saw him bogey the 10th and 12th. Never mind, he had birdies at the first, fourth, seventh, ninth, 11th and 16th in halves of 32-36.

Elliot Saltman, the leading Scot overnight, fell down to joint 20th place with Ross Kellett on 208 after an extraordinary finish to what had been a very good card. 

Saltman ran up a quadruple bogey 9 at the par-5 18th. Having shot six birdies earlier, he still finished with a 72 but his victory chance has gone. Kellett had a 71.

Jamie McLeary is joint 47th on 211 after a third-round 70 while George Murray has dropped to joint 53rd on 7212 after a 75.

Wallace Booth is tied 60th on 213 after a7

 

LEADING THIRD SCORES

par 216 (3x72)

200 Ruaidhri McGee (Ire) 65 67 68, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 66 68 66

202 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 66 68 68

SCOTS' SCORES

207 Andrew McArthur 67 72 68, Peter Whiteford 71 70 66 (T14)

209 Ross Kellett 67 70 71, Elliot Saltman 70 66 72 (T20)

211 Jamie McLeary 70 71 70 (T47)

212 George Murray 70 67 75 (T53)

213 Wallace Booth 73 69 71 (T60)

Irishman McGee shares lead with local hero

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Nacho Elvira will hold home hopes atop his broad Spanish shoulders entering the final round of the Challenge de Madrid as he carved out a narrow two stroke advantage, alongside Ireland’s Ruaidhri McGee, at El Encin Golf Hotel.

Elvira will have McGee for company in the final round as the Irishman continued to play well in Madrid, despite the added pressure of playing on a medical extension in the early part of the season.

The 24 year old is as laid back as they come, seemingly unfazed by his lofty position, and if he continues to play as he has so far – having signed for a 68 on day three – then he could well upset the home support with a maiden triumph of his own on Saturday.

“I started with a good birdie at the first, which settled me down a bit, and then I just parred my way round from there,” sad McGee. “It was really boring actually, just fairways and greens, until I got to nine and made a birdie.

“The back nine was pretty similar apart from a couple more birdies, so 14 pars and four birdies was pretty solid. I definitely left a few out there, and I’m going to go now and put a little practice into my putting, and work on that for an hour or so and I should be OK.

“I just need to approach it the same as every day and see what happens. There is no point building it up to something really big, or you won’t be able to play properly, so I’ll just chill out and play it by ear.”

Scores after round three:

200 R McGee (Irl) 65 67 68, N Elvira  (Esp) 66 68 66,
202 R Gouveia (Por) 66 68 68,
203 S Soderberg (Swe) 67 66 70,
204 A Tadini (Ita) 70 68 66, S Gros (Fra) 65 70 69,
205 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 64 73 68, P Oriol (Esp) 69 69 67,
206 B Stone (RSA) 69 67 70, F Calmels  (Fra) 71 70 65, P Maddy (Eng) 68 71 67, D Foos (Ger) 67 68 71, J Sarasti  (Esp) 66 66 74,
207 A McArthur  (Sco) 67 72 68, P Whiteford (Sco) 71 70 66, J Lima  (Por) 73 67 67, C Hanson (Eng) 68 70 69, S Manley (Wal) 70 68 69, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 71 65 71
208 S Walker (Eng) 70 68 70, V Riu  (Fra) 71 70 67, C Paisley  (Eng) 70 71 67, B Evans  (Eng) 73 67 68, R Kellett (Sco) 67 70 71, C Berardo (Fra) 70 70 68, J Walters (RSA) 72 70 66, E Saltman  (Sco) 70 66 72, S Thornton (Irl) 74 67 67
209 M Trappel  (Aut) 68 69 72, J Gonnet  (Fra) 72 69 68, C Gloet  (Den) 70 68 71, P Lawrie (Irl) 68 70 71, P Martin Benavides (Esp) 69 71 69, J Lara (Esp) 68 73 68, J Glennemo (Swe) 67 69 73, A Hortal  (Esp) 73 69 67, C Aguilar  (Esp) 69 72 68, P Figueiredo  (Por) 69 67 73
210 J Senior (Eng) 70 69 71, S Fallon (Eng) 69 69 72, A Saddier (Fra) 70 69 71, N Ravano (Ita) 66 75 69, L Nemecz (Aut) 73 67 70, M Jonzon (Swe) 65 73 72, M Lafeber (Ned) 73 68 69, B Stow (Eng) 71 71 68
211 T Sluiter  (Ned) 71 71 69, E Cuartero Blanco  (Esp) 67 75 69, G Porteous (Eng) 69 72 70, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 72 69, M Wiegele  (Aut) 74 68 69, J McLeary  (Sco) 70 71 70
212 J Dantorp (Swe) 71 71 70, G Maybin (Nir) 71 71 70, J Fahrbring (Swe) 68 70 74, G Murray  (Sco) 70 67 75, J Stalter (Fra) 73 69 70, R Kakko  (Fin) 68 72 72, J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) 70 70 72
213 D Gaunt (Eng) 70 69 74, E Larrañaga (Esp) 75 67 71, S Tiley (Eng) 69 70 74, W Booth  (Sco) 73 69 71, J Gallegos  (Esp) 71 71 71, A Gee  (Eng) 69 73 71, P Archer (Eng) 72 70 71
214 L Gagli  (Ita) 71 71 72
215 J Huldahl (Den) 75 67 73
217 H Satama (Fin) 70 72 75
218 N Kimsey (Eng) 70 72 76, W Harrold (Eng) 68 74 76