Scots still in the hunt in Essex Challenge

From Challenge Tour Press Officer Paul Symes
Despite solid rounds the Scottish duo of Craig Lee and Callum Macaulay lost ground on the leaders on day three of the English Challenge, but both men still retain hope of capturing their maiden Challenge Tour titles.
Macaulay’s round of 70 contained four birdies and two bogeys, including one at the last, to join Lee on 12 under par, five shots behind the leader Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark. The man from Kincardine put on “the best putting display of my career”, but found little luck on the greens.
He said: “It was by far the best I’ve ever putted, but nothing went my way. Every single putt I hit was the right weight, and although a couple went in, at least four stopped millimetres short of the hole. So it was a really frustrating day for me, because I should be at least three or four shots better off than I am, and I’d be right there in contention. But hopefully I’ve got all my bad luck out the way today, and tomorrow it’ll be my day.
“Thorbjørn’s obviously playing very well here and this season overall, so he’ll be riding on a huge wave of confidence. But my confidence is high at the minute also. If I can get off to a good start, then I might be able to put some pressure on him. He’s up there to be shot at – and I’ll be shooting! You never know what can happen. If I keep playing the way I’ve been playing and putting the way I’ve been putting, there’s no reason why I can’t win.”
Lee, whose round of 69 featured five birdies, feels Olesen might be too far ahead to catch, but is determined to take second place at least.
He said: “He played some great golf today, and if he plays like that again tomorrow, he’s going to be very hard to catch. There’s a bunch of guys sitting on 12 and 13 under par, so the main aim is to jump over them. If the leader comes back to us then that’s all well and good, although I can’t really see it happening. But you never know – we’ll give it our best shot and see where it takes us.”
THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 216 (3x72)
199 T Olesen (Den) 67 68 64,
203 D Gaunt (Aus) 64 69 70, T Fleetwood (Eng) (am) 66 69 68,
204 B Evans (Eng) 66 71 67, C Macaulay (Sco) 66 68 70, C Lee (Sco) 69 66 69,
205 M Ford (Eng) 70 66 69, J Busby (Eng) 70 66 69,
206 S Manley (Wal) 70 68 68, C Moriarty (Irl) 69 67 70, C Russo (Fra) 69 68 69,
207 D Whitnell (Eng) 68 69 70, A Kaleka (Fra) 71 71 65, A Velasco (Esp) 66 70 71, G Houston (Wal) 69 68 70,
208 R Dinwiddie (Eng) 69 68 71, S Arnold (Aus) 72 66 70, C Smith (Wal) 71 71 66, D Brooks (Eng) 67 68 73, F Colombo (Ita) 73 65 70, A Blyth (Aus) 67 68 73, J Clément (Sui) 68 72 68,
209 G Murray (Sco) 67 68 74, C Del Moral (Esp) 66 75 68, G Molteni (Ita) 72 68 69, L Westerberg (Swe) 73 68 68, J Heath (Eng) 67 70 72,
210 F De Vries (Ned) 69 72 69, C Brazillier (Fra) 68 72 70, A Ahokas (Fin) 67 68 75, J Hepworth (Eng) 68 72 70, M Korhonen (Fin) 69 69 72, F Calmels (Fra) 71 69 70, A Hansen (Den) 70 70 70,
211 A Snobeck (Fra) 70 71 70, M Laskey (Wal) 70 72 69, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 71 69, G Woodman (Eng) 69 71 71, J Zapata (Arg) 71 69 71, N Sulzer (Sui) 71 71 69, M Cort (Eng) 67 69 75, S Wakefield (Eng) 67 72 72, C Ford (Eng) 70 68 73, E Dubois (Fra) 68 74 69,
212 M McGeady (Irl) 71 71 70, E Saltman (Sco) 69 69 74, L Slattery (Eng) 71 69 72, A Gee (Eng) 74 67 71, W Ormsby (Aus) 70 71 71, J Campillo (Esp) 68 68 76, B Barham (Eng) 70 68 74, S Tiley (Eng) 69 69 74,
213 M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 70 72,
214 L Gagli (Ita) 69 69 76, M Quiros (Esp) 68 71 75, D Wardrop (Eng) 71 68 75, K Sullivan (Wal) 71 71 72,
215 G Watremez (Bel) 71 70 74, M Higley (Eng) 70 72 73, P Dwyer (Eng) 68 72 75, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 71 73,
216 A Raitt (Eng) 71 70 75, N Meitinger (Ger) 72 70 74,
217 J Larsen (Nor) 69 68 80, E Ramsay (Sco) 72 68 77,
220 G Davies (Eng) 72 70 78