Rafa hot on Greg’s heels in Austria
EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS
Grégory Bourdy saw his overnight four-shot advantage halved by Rafa Cabrera-Bello during the third round of the Lyoness Open Powered by Greenfinity at Diamond Country Club.
Bourdy appeared to be in an excellent position to claim his fifth European Tour title when, having resumed his round following a 95-minute lightning delay, he regained his four-shot lead on the back nine after an early Cabrera-Bello onslaught closed the gap to one.
The Frenchman's only blemish on the 15th - his first since his tenth hole on Friday – coupled with three birdies in four holes from Cabrera-Bello left him just one clear, but Bourdy managed to double that cushion with a fourth birdie on the 16th.
Cabrera-Bello, winner of this event six years ago, reached the turn in 31 courtesy of three birdies and an eagle in his first seven holes before the weather delay halted the Spaniard's momentum. When play resumed, he bogeyed the 11th and 14th, but fought back with consecutive gains on 15 and 16 to sign for a six under par 66.
Another player to suffer from the lightning delay was Chris Wood. The Englishman, having started his round with three consecutive birdies, was forced to take a penalty drop on the ninth when he fired his tee shot right into the trees and, after returning to finish the hole, could only register a double bogey.
Wood, who won a BMW i8 for a hole-in-one en route to a fourth-place finish at the recent BMW PGA Championship, responded by birdieing the next and last during a round of 70 that left him five shots off the pace.

Player Quotes
Grégory Bourdy – 69.201 (-15):   “It was another good round because it was difficult today, especially with the suspension of play so three under was a good score. After the delay the wind was a bit stronger which made it a bit more difficult but I think I did quite well at the end.
“I am in a good position – it’s always nice to be two ahead going into the final round, but it will be a tough day and I am sure it will be an exciting day playing with Rafa who is a great guy. I’ll relax tonight and have a nice dinner and get ready for tomorrow. ”
Rafa Cabrera Bello – 66 203 (-13): “It was a really good day for me – I got off to an amazing start with a birdie at the first and then holing out for eagle at the third. Also making two birdies on the par fives – the 15th and 16th on the back nine – was really important for my confidence and to close the gap on Greg going into tomorrow.
“The eagle early in the round was a nice surprise and very funny because last night I had dinner with some of the Spanish guys and we were talking about how Miguel always holes out from the fairway and makes all these holes in one. I was saying how I never hole out from the middle of the fairway and then today I finally make one. There you go.
“I feel good about my game at the moment. The last few weeks have been good and I am happy with my game and what I am doing. I am aiming to peak during the best part of the season and I seem to be doing that which is great for tomorrow and great for the next couple of months.”
Chris Wood – 69. 206 (-10):  “The putt at the last was important and massively deserved because I just couldn’t seem to get the ball to drop having hit so many good putts. It was quite a frustrating day because of that – I hit a lot of good putts but they just kept lipping out. There is not much I can do about that apart from hit more good putts tomorrow and hope a few of them drop. I am still confident about my chances tomorrow. I need to go out here and try to post a low score and put some pressure on them – if I can shoot something close to 66 it might be enough.”
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
201 G Bourdy (Fra) 65 67 69,
203 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 69 68 66,
206 C Wood  (Eng) 67 69 70,
207 S Jamieson  (Sco) 72 70 65, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 69 69 69,
208 M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 70, J Hahn (USA) 71 69 68,
209 G Stal  (Fra) 68 68 73,
210 S Griffiths (Eng) 73 71 66, C Pigem (Esp) 72 65 73, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 67 73 70, M Bremner (RSA) 69 74 67, L Jensen (Den) 71 70 69,
211 R Ramsay  (Sco) 74 69 68, K Broberg (Swe) 70 72 69, F Fritsch  (Ger) 70 70 71, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 73 71, M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 70 72 69,
212 E Espana (Fra) 75 69 68, D Gaunt (Eng) 71 71 70, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 73 71, L Slattery (Eng) 69 71 72, M Nixon (Eng) 74 66 72, R Rock (Eng) 71 70 71, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 73 71 68,
213 R Paratore (Ita) 72 70 71, D Woltman (USA) 71 73 69, P Oriol (Esp) 70 70 73, M Schneider (Ger) 72 72 69, P Lawrie (Irl) 68 71 74, B Hebert  (Fra) 73 69 71, A Otaegui  (Esp) 69 71 73,
214 J Singh (Ind) 69 73 72, M Hoey  (Nir) 73 69 72, V Riu  (Fra) 71 73 70, S Thornton (Irl) 70 74 70, J Roos (RSA) 74 68 72, J Lara (Esp) 72 69 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 73 71, D Coupland (Eng) 71 70 73, R Kakko  (Fin) 73 70 71, A McArthur  (Sco) 71 70 73,
215 N Colsaerts  (Bel) 70 72 73, D Horsey (Eng) 71 68 76, F Praegant (Aut) 71 73 71, J Quesne  (Fra) 69 71 75, S Khan (Eng) 73 70 72, R Evans  (Eng) 68 73 74, R Bland (Eng) 71 69 75,
216 M Lampert (Ger) 73 70 73, J Lagergren (Swe) 73 67 76, C Del Moral (Esp) 67 76 73, S Henry  (Sco) 70 74 72, J Huldahl (Den) 74 70 72, J Knutzon (USA) 70 74 72, R McEvoy  (Eng) 72 72 72, C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 72 75, M Ovesen (Den) 72 69 75, M Lundberg (Swe) 72 70 74, A Wall (Eng) 71 72 73, D Im (USA) 74 70 72,
217 C Paisley  (Eng) 71 72 74, L Nemecz (Aut) 73 71 73, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 73 74, J Walters (RSA) 70 73 74,
219 S Hutsby  (Eng) 74 70 75, S Wakefield (Eng) 74 69 76, K Ferrie (Eng) 73 69 77,
220 S Hansen (Den) 71 72 77, P Edberg (Swe) 71 72 77, C Bouniol (Fra) 68 72 80, R Santos  (Por) 72 72 76,

222 A Ahokas (Fin) 71 72 79,


- Ends -

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS