Scott Henry clickety-clicks to be


four off the pace in BMW Open

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Sergio Garcia will battle it out for a third European Tour title of the season at the BMW International Open after the reigning Masters Champion carded a five under par 67 to join Richard Bland in a share of the lead heading into the final day.

The 37 year old from Spain has never claimed three victories in a single European Tour season but has been on superlative form in the 2017 campaign, winning the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February before making his Major breakthrough at Augusta National two months later.

Garcia has been confidence and composure personified this week at Golfclub München Eichenried outside Munich, and seven birdies helped him on the way to the top of the leaderboard on 13 under par.

He was joined there by Englishman Bland, who delighted the crowds in an enthralling three holes on the back nine which began with a miraculous up and down from the edge of a water hazard at the 11^th – forcing him to go barefoot into the lake before splashing out and holing a 25 foot putt for par.

The 44 year old was buzzing thanks to a boisterously supportive crowd and he followed that closely by holing out with his second shot from 120 yards at the par four 13^th on the way to a thrilling 67.

Swede Joakim Lagergren was out on his own in third place courtesy of a three under 69, which moved him to a 12 under total, while Andres Romero of Argentina (68) and Belgian Thomas Detry (70) were two shots back on ten under.
Scott Henry had his lowest round - a six-under 66 - which a few players matched but nobody scored lower and he moved up to tied sixth on nine-under 207. The Scot is only four behind the joint leaders.

Player quotes:

Sergio Garcia

“I think it was a good, solid day. Obviously I had a couple of little putts there at the end that looked like they were going to go in and didn't, but overall, I felt like I played nicely.

“It was still a little bit breezy, so it wasn't that easy, and these greens get tricky in the afternoon. So I'm definitely very happy, very pleased with the round.

“I think I obviously have a little more confidence since the Masters but I don't think I'm a better player than I was before I won the green jacket. I've been fortunate enough to do many, many good things throughout my career before that, and it hasn't changed.

“I'd love my back to be a little bit better obviously. The good thing is it doesn't hurt me for the most part when I swing, which is great, but I do feel it as the day goes on from walking and kneeling down and getting up and stuff like that. It gets a little bit sore.

“It’s more of the same. I’ll just try to play solid like I've been playing every day, shoot another good score and see where that puts me.”

Richard Bland

“It was good fun. It's always a pleasure playing with Henrik, and yeah, we had a few laughs out there. I hit some really good shots out there and I hit a couple of scrappy ones coming in, but my short game saved me.

“I got my feet wet, and then holed a second shot into 13. So I kind of ran into everything. When I was walking around, the Sky guys said that they could see the ball. I was thinking, yeah, it's gone for a swim and I'm going to be dropping it. The guy said no, they could see something. And then I was walking around thinking, what kind of boxer shorts have I got on. But fortunately Gaz saved my blushes with saying that he had the waterproofs in the bag.

“So it was a sort of 50/50 shot, yeah. It was one of those, if it doesn't come off, you're going to look silly, but fortunately it came out and an added bonus, I rolled the putt in to make four. I was staring six in the face, really, so that's a two-shot swing right there.”

Joakim Lagergren

“I'm happy with the score, I fought a lot out there. It wasn't pretty at all but the long game turned bad on me today, and the short game came back to me so I'm happy with three-under.

“It never got going really. I was fighting a lot, but holed a few putts and was really good around the green today.

“Hopefully I will hit the ball better tomorrow. I have some work to do on the driving range today and hopefully I can get it back to where it was on Thursday and Friday.”

Andres Romero

“I'm very happy, I played really good. I'm happy to be here in Europe. I haven't played here since 2007.

“I haven't been in this position for a long time, so I'm happy about it. I'm in a great position for tomorrow. Today I hit the ball really good. I only missed two shots and it cost me two bogeys.

“On 18, we waited a long time on the tee box and I missed a driver in the water. I need to focus on what I'm doing and keep playing well tomorrow, and don't even look at the leaderboard.”

THIRD ROUND SCORES

 Par 216 (3x72)

203 R Bland (Eng) 67 69 67, S Garcia (Spn) 66 70 67
204 J Lagergren (Swe) 69 66 69
206 T Detry (Bel) 65 71 70, A Romero (Arg) 67 71 68
207 H Otto (SAf) 68 69 70, S Henry (Sco) 69 72 66, D Lipsky (USA) 71 69 67, R Paratore (Ita) 70 70 67,
208 R Karlberg (Swe) 67 69 72, T Fleetwood (Eng) 67 71 70, H Stenson (Swe) 67 69 72, N Fasth (Swe) 68 69 71, B Rumford (Aus) 68 73 67, J Luiten (Netherlands) 66 73 69,
209 J Stalter (Fra) 67 68 74, D Frittelli (SAf) 72 71 66, N Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 67, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 71 68, A Wall (Eng) 71 72 66, B Stone (SAf) 72 71 66, G Coetzee (SAf) 69 70 70, J Campillo (Spn) 74 69 66, J Van Zyl (SAf) 70 72 67, J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 67 70, T Fisher jun (SAf) 69 69 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 74 68
210 T Lewis (Eng) 71 71 68, P Lawrie (Sco) 73 67 70, E De La Riva (Esp) 70 68 72, N Elvira (Spn) 72 70 68, P Larrazábal (Spn) 71 71 68, R Cabrera Bello (Spn) 69 74 67, N Bertasio (Ita) 70 72 68, J Dantorp (Swe) 69 73 68, L Bjerregaard (Den) 70 72 68, J Winther (Den) 69 72 69, R Sterne (SAf) 71 72 67, R Langasque (Fra) 71 71 68
211 R Fox (Nzl) 68 75 68, A Björk (Swe) 71 71 69, J Smith (Eng) 70 69 72, S Heisele (Ger) 70 73 68, W Ormsby (Australia) 64 74 73, A Chesters (Eng) 71 71 69, T Olesen (Den) 66 74 71, S Kapur (Ind) 67 72 72, M Schmitt (am) (Ger) 74 67 70,
212 G Storm (Eng) 71 69 72, R McEvoy (Eng) 69 72 71, A Otaegui (Spn) 70 73 69, B Wiesberger (Austria) 70 68 74, P Widegren (Swe) 69 69 74, D Horsey (Eng) 71 72 69, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71 71
213 R Wattel (Fra) 73 70 70, G Havret (Fra) 70 72 71, M Kramer (Ger) 70 70 73, J Ahlers (SAf) 67 73 73, J Rutherford (Eng) 69 71 73, P Maddy (Eng) 69 73 71, J Morrison (Eng) 67 74 72, E Molinari (Ita) 72 70 71, E Els (SAf) 71 71 71, V Dubuisson (Fra) 72 69 72,
214 Z Lombard (SAf) 74 69 71, F Fritsch (Ger) 69 73 72, M Foster (Eng) 69 72 73, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 74 71, S Crocker (am) (USA) 69 74 71,
215 M Southgate (Eng) 67 70 78, P Hanson (Swe) 69 73 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 70 73, M Korhonen (Finland) 70 73 72, D Brooks (Eng) 70 72 73, R Green (Australia) 69 71 75, F Zanotti (Paraguay) 68 75 72, D Im (USA) 67 76 72
216 J Kruger (SAf) 73 70 73, O Fisher (Eng) 72 71 73, L Canter (Eng) 73 70 73
217 D Burmester (SAf) 72 70 75, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70 75, J Quesne (Fra) 75 68 74
220 J Scrivener (Australia) 71 72 77