American Suri shows his class to lead in Denmark

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Julian Suri took a familiar position at the top of the leaderboard after an excellent third round of 67 gave him a two-shot lead at the Made in Denmark Challenge

The American, pictured right, has been the dominant player on the Road to Oman this year and leads the Rankings by 25,000 points. The New York-born player again showed his class with a bogey-free performance at a wet and windy Royal Oak Golf Club as four birdies on the back nine took him to 14 under par 202.

The 26 year old won his maiden European Challenge Tour four weeks ago in the Czech Republic so he is aware of the pressures he will encounter if he is to close out victory tomorrow.

“It was a good time to make a move,” he said. “I didn’t have a target in mind at the start of the day, I was just going out trying to hit all of my shots and birdie as many holes as I can.

“The big plus for me was to be bogey-free today because it played pretty challenging but I really executed well – I didn’t really make any putts on the front nine but I hung in there, it was the ultimate test of patient.

“I was able to finish strong and there’s no reason to feel frustrated because I knew it was playing tough out there for everyone, not just for me, so I just kept at it.

“There’s no leaderboards so I didn’t know for sure where I was – I saw Oscar Stark was 13 under at the turn I think, but on the back nine I just knew that I had to keep making birdies.

“That’s my mentality anyway, it’s not about where I stand so that didn’t really change anything and it’s going to be the same plan of attack tomorrow.

“I think getting it done in Czech will help – it can’t hurt certainly. It’s a whole new day tomorrow though and I think it’s going to be even windier, so it’s going to be more of the same mentality because that’s served me well and it should be fun.”

Behind Suri in second place is his playing partner Dominic Foos, the youngest winner in Challenge Tour history, who shared the lead with two holes to play on his way to a 69 that puts him two shots back.

Oscar Stark, who led for much of the day, is in third place on 11 under par while one shot behind him are Christopher Blomstrand and Adrien Saddier in a share of fourth spot.

Niklas Norgaard Møller delighted the Danish fans as he moved into the top ten, a 69 taking him to nine under par and within five shots of the lead.

Scores after Round 3:
par 216 (3x72)

202 J Suri (USA) 65 70 67
204 D Foos (Ger) 66 69 69
205 O Stark (Swe) 66 67 72
206 C Blomstrand (Swe) 71 66 69, A Saddier (Fra) 68 70 68
207 S Brown (Eng) 66 65 76, N Møller (Den) 70 68 69, V Perez (Fra) 68 70 69, T Tree (Eng) 68 65 74, M Kinhult (Swe) 70 70 67
208 M Godoy (Arg) 68 73 67, O Lengden (Swe) 69 70 69, M Iten (Swi) 70 69 69, V Østerby (Den) 73 67 68, O Suhr (Den) 69 72 67
209 F Laporta (Ita) 66 70 73, E Van Rooyen (SAf) 69 67 73, C Koepka (USA) 70 68 71, J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 67 71 71, D Fox (Australia) 73 69 67, A Tadini (Ita) 69 72 68, O Rozner (Fra) 70 69 70
210 C Berardo (Fra) 68 71 71, P Howard (Eng) 65 70 75, M Lafeber (Netherlands) 69 70 71, N Marsh (Eng) 69 72 69
211 J McDonald (Sco) 70 69 72, A Bernadet (Fra) 74 68 69, J Abbott (Eng) 70 70 71, H Casey (Eng) 69 70 72, M Haastrup (Den) 67 72 72, R Hjelm (Den) 70 69 72, J Hansen (Den) 73 68 70
212 J McLeary (Sco) 73 67 72, B Hafthorsson (Iceland) 71 67 74, E Johansen (Norway) 70 71 71, J Makitalo (Finland) 72 70 70, S Forsström (Swe) 72 67 73, N Ravano (Ita) 68 71 73
213 M Ford (Eng) 70 72 71, M Laier (Ger) 70 69 74, A Wennstam (Swe) 72 67 74, S Surry (Eng) 70 72 71, M Lundberg (Swe) 68 73 72, J Arnoy (Norway) 67 69 77
214 O Farr (Wal) 70 68 76, M Trappel (Austria) 64 76 74, C Bezuidenhout (SAf) 72 67 75, S Einhaus (Ger) 68 73 73, R McGowan (Eng) 68 73 73 
215 T Lawrence (SAf) 64 74 77, K Johannessen (Norway) 67 73 75, D Law (Sco) 72 70 73, P Kopp (Ger) 67 71 77, M Pastor (Spn) 73 67 75, A Connelly (Can) 68 73 74, M Ovesen (Den) 66 74 75, C Sordet (Fra) 72 68 75, B Hellgren (Swe) 74 67 74,
216 D Gaunt (Australia) 71 70 75, J Pastor (Spn) 72 70 74, W Harrold (Eng) 72 70 74, G Moynihan (Ire) 72 70 74
217 C Del Moral (Esp) 70 69 78,
218 M Laskey (Wal) 71 69 78,
222 E Di Nitto (Ita) 74 68 80