Law loses lead but not chance to win at Aviemore

Aberdeen's David Law has lost the lead in the Scottish Hydro Challenge over the Macdonald Spey Valley golf course at Aviemore but the two-time Scottish amateur champion could still get past the winning post ahead of his closely bunched rivals if he produces a final round of the quality of his open score of five-under-par 66. The omens are good as David birdied three of his last four holes on Saturday.
Law has subsequently added rounds of 69 and 71 for seven-under 206, to share third place, one behind the joint leaders on 205, the in-form Welshman Stuart Manley (67-69-69) and Pedro Figueiredo, also 67-69-69). The next Scot is Grantown-on-Spey's local hero, Duncan Stewart, just outside the top 10 with scores of 69, 68 and 73.

THIRD ROUND
Par 213 (3x71)
205 S Manley (Wales) 67 69 69, P Figueiredo (Portugal) 67 69 69.
206 J B Hansen (Den) 72 67 67, D Law (Sco) 66 69 71
207 T Tree (Eng) 70 68 68, S Soderberg (Swe) 73 64 70.
208 J Singh Brar (Eng) 72 69 67, G Boyd (Eng) 70 69 69
209 K K Johannessen (Norway) 72 70 67, B Spooner (Eng) 69 68 72, A Meronk (Pol) 70 66 73
210 A Arnaus (Spn) 72 69 69, B Stow (Eng) 69 70 71, D Stewart (Sco) 69 68 73.

OTHER SCOTS' SCORES
211 C Doak 75 67 69 (T15)
213 G Forrest 71 72 70 (T27)
214 R MacIntyre 70 71 72, L Johnston 69 73 72 (T35)
215 J Gallagher 76 67 72, J Doherty 75 68 72 (T42)
218 R Kellett 75 69 74 (T56)

In-form Manley has chance of back-to-back
victories on Challenge Tour

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Stuart Manley is in pole position to become the first player for six years to win back-to-back European Challenge Tour events after carding a third round 69 to sit joint top with Pedro Figueiredo at the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge hosted by Macdonald Hotels and Resorts.

The Welshman, who won the Hauts de France Golf Open last week, is level pegging with Portugal’s Figueiredo at the top of the leaderboard and has the chance to become the first player since Kristoffer Broberg in 2012 to triumph twice in two weeks on Europe’s top developmental tour.

During an up and down round Manley carded six birdies and four bogeys to sign for his second successive score of 69 and set the clubhouse lead at eight under par – which Figueiredo, in the last group of the day, matched with his own round of 69.

Manley, who has recorded three top-three finishes in his last four Challenge Tour starts, knows he is in a rich vein of form and is fully confident he can add another trophy to his cabinet tomorrow.

“I have a good thought in my head about tomorrow,” he said. “I just want to go out there and take the golf course on and I will not be nervous.

“After my round on Thursday I found a little something after swinging the golf club in the back garden of where we are staying and I turned up at the golf course on Friday feeling a lot better about my game.

“Today was pretty good, just a couple of loose ones here and there, but that was more of a commitment thing, and my game is definitely taking shape and I’m feeling good ahead of tomorrow.

“I felt really comfortable today after winning last week. Previous Saturdays when I’ve been in contention I’ve felt a little bit on edge but today I felt very comfortable.

“To win back to back would be an amazing achievement but it is nice being in the mix again and giving myself a chance – hopefully I will take it tomorrow.”

Figueiredo, who also recently entered the winners’ circle after beating Manley in a three-hole play-off at the KPMG Trophy two weeks ago, admits he is also feeling calm going into the final round.

“I got a lot of confidence from my win two weeks ago in Belgium,” he said. “This week shows that I am still in form and I feel very relaxed.

“Belgium was a big week for me and I was a lot more tense there than I have been so far in Scotland so hopefully I can learn from that experience and win again tomorrow.

 “I was very solid today especially on the front nine where I was three under – lots of greens and lots of opportunities for birdie.

“The back nine was a bit tougher and although I came home in one over I am very happy with my score. Today wasn’t as windy but I think the pin positions were a bit tougher and the greens were firming up at the end so it wasn’t easy to get the ball close to the hole.

“My iron play has been great over the last few weeks and was the most important part of my game today. I holed a very tricky little five-footer for bogey on 12 which was really important because if you card a double bogey it is very difficult to recover from that.

 “My stomach was a bit off this morning so I asked my buddy [Tomas Santos Silva] to caddy for me as he had missed the cut – he’s a great guy and a good caddy.

“If I get a nice cheque tomorrow maybe I will give him a little present!”

Also in contention going into the last day at Macdonald Spey Valley Golf Club is overnight leader David Law, who birdied three of his last four holes to sign for a level par 71 and sit one shot behind Manley and Figueiredo.

Scores after Round Three:

Par 213 (3x71)

205 S Manley (Wales) 67 69 69, P Figueiredo (Portugal) 67 69 69
206 J Hansen (Denmarl) 72 67 67, D Law (Sco) 66 69 71
207 T Tree (Eng) 70 69 68, S Soderberg (Swe) 73 64 70
208 J Singh Brar (Eng) 72 69 67, G Boyd (Eng) 70 69 69
209 A Meronk (Poland) 70 66 73, B Spooner (Eng) 69 68 72, K Johannessen (Norway) 72 70 67,
210 B Stow (Eng) 69 70 71, D Stewart (Sco) 69 68 73, A Arnaus (Spn) 72 69 69
211 R Enoch (Wales) 70 69 72, D Perrier (Fra) 70 73 68, B Eccles (Australia 71 71 69, A Karlsson (Swe) 73 68 70, B Evans (Eng) 70 69 72, C Doak (Sco) 75 67 69, M Iten (Switz) 69 69 73 
212 M Ford (Eng) 72 72 68, M Hoey (NIre) 73 66 73, G Moynihan (Ire) 71 69 72, F Mruzek (Czech) 73 69 70, Å Nilsson (Swe) 73 68 71
213 A Rozner (Fra) 73 70 70, A Boasson (Iceland) 75 69 69, G Forrest (Sco) 71 72 70, R McGee (Ire) 71 73 69, J Rutherford (Eng) 70 70 73, B Virto (Spn) 72 72 69, E Goya (Arg) 72 68 73, J Senior (Eng) 71 68 74 
214 S Crocker (USA) 71 72 71, M Lundberg (Swe) 70 72 72, P Howard (Eng) 76 68 70, R Macintyre (Sco) 70 72 72, L Johnston (Sco) 69 73 72, M Armitage (Eng) 71 70 73, W Besseling (Netherlands) 74 68 72
215 J Gallagher (Sco) 76 67 72, O Wilson (Eng) 73 69 73, D Van Driel (Netherlands) 72 70 73, J Doherty (Sco) 75 68 72, S Tiley (Eng) 73 71 71 
216 M Orrin (Eng) 73 70 73, G Migliozzi (Ita) 76 67 73 
217 A Wennstam (Swe) 72 70 75, G Stal (Fra) 73 71 73, S Piaget (Mon) 75 69 73, A Garcia-Heredia (Spn) 70 71 76, N Møller (Denmark) 72 71 74, J Munro (Australia) 72 70 75, D Dixon (Eng) 75 69 73
218 J Arnoy (Norway) 74 68 76, H Leon (Chile) 73 71 74, M Ovesen (Denmark) 73 71 74, K Samooja (Finland) 74 70 74, M Fenasse (Fra) 72 67 79, R Kellett (Sco) 75 69 74, J Huldahl (Denmark) 71 72 75, 220 T Murray (Eng) 72 72 76