David Law's 67 is best of third-round scores in China

   

                                                              The image of Kalle Samooja is displayed by  Hainan Sports 

Day Three report

Kalle Samooja will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Hainan Open after posting a one under par 71 in testing conditions on Day Three at Sanya Luhuitou Golf Club.

As temperatures hit the mid-thirties and crosswinds began to swirl on the coast of Hainan, the Finn stuck to his task to post a 14 under par total and in doing so held off the chasing Grant Forrest and Niklas Lemke, who sit on 12 under par and 11 under par, respectively, and will play in the final group with Samooja on Sunday.

After impressing with flurries of birdies on the opening two days, Samooja showed calmness and determination to post a contrasting, but equally as impressive, type of round on Saturday with three birdies and a pair of bogeys the only colour on an otherwise non-eventful card.

The 30 year old admitted to being pleased with his day’s work and is happy with his two-shot cushion ahead of the final 18 holes.

“The front nine wasn’t that windy but the wind really picked up on that back nine,” he said. “It was tough and I thought I played the back nine pretty well.

“You just had to take it shot-by-shot and hole those putts. You had to hit the long putts close and move on and I think that’s what I did.

“The last three holes it was really, really tough playing into the wind and even before that it was tough playing in crosswinds.

“It was tough but I think we all played pretty well in my group – it helps when the others are playing well. You can’t think forward too much because then you get in trouble. You just have to go with your game plan and stick to each shot.”

Samooja will begin his quest for his maiden European Challenge Tour title at 10.15am local time on Sunday and despite recognising the strengths of Forrest and Lemke, his playing partners, he insists he’ll be focussing on his own game.

“It helps a little bit seeing Grant today but I’m trying to do my own job,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll make a couple of birdies early in the round so everybody has to catch me and I don’t go backwards.

“The other guys will be hoping to have a fast start and catch me early so I’m going to need a fast start as well. Niklas is in good form, he’s been playing well, he’s a long hitter and this course suits long hitters so I can’t hold back at all tomorrow. That’s my gameplan.

“The key to doing well tomorrow is to remain calm and keep doing what I’m doing. There aren’t many things I can change or even want to do. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing: morning gym session and then get ready for my round. Hopefully I’ll be 100 per cent ready to do well.”

Australian Troy Moses sits a shot behind Lemke on ten under par while Sean Crocker and Scot Calum Hill are tied fifth on eight under.

A chasing pack of six players are a shot further back on seven under while Eirik Tage Johansen and Aberdonian David Law, who posted the low round of the day with a five under par 67, end Day Three on six under par.

Scores after Round Three:

202 K Samooja (Fin) 65 66 71
204 G Forrest (Sco) 62 72 70 
205 N Lemke (Swe) 68 67 70 
206 T Moses (Aus) 68 69 69
208 S Crocker (USA) 68 68 72, C Hill (Sco) 68 72 68 
209 B Eccles (Aus) 70 68 71, N Geyger (Chi) 68 67 74, J Senior (Eng) 68 71 70, F Wilkin (Nzl) 70 68 71, A Arnaus (Esp) 72 66 71, V Perez (Fra) 68 73 68,
210 D Law (Sco) 73 70 67, E Johansen (Nor) 68 72 70,
211 S Soderberg (Swe) 68 72 71, K McBride (Australia) 69 69 73, H Leon (Chi) 69 72 70,
212 J Lando Casanova (Fra) 71 69 72, J Wilson (Australia) 70 68 74, D Huizing (Ned) 73 70 69, A Meronk (Pol) 69 69 74,
213 S Forsström (Swe) 69 72 72, Y Minamoto (Jpn) 70 70 73, T Murray (Eng) 68 73 72, E Ferguson (Sco) 69 70 74, F Laporta (Ita) 69 71 73, R MacIntyre (Sco) 70 71 72, P Figueiredo (Por) 68 71 74, S Prateeptienchai (Tha) 70 70 73, M Ford (Eng) 67 70 76, L Johnston (Sco) 67 74 72,
214 X Luo (Chn) 67 73 74, A Rozner (Fra) 68 73 73, M Hoey (Nir) 70 70 74, W Besseling (Ned) 68 71 75, S Henry (Sco) 72 72 70, M Schneider (Ger) 72 71 71, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 68 72 74,
215 D Van Driel (Ned) 72 72 71, P Mejow (Ger) 70 73 72, M Iten (Switz) 69 71 75, J Girrbach (Sui) 73 71 71, D Papadatos (Australia) 70 71 74, P Muenlek (Thailand) 73 70 72, D Su (Chn) 71 67 77,
216 K Lee (S Korea) 72 71 73, J Hansen (Den) 68 71 77, O Wilson (Eng) 73 69 74, M Orrin (Eng) 73 70 73,
217 J Singh Brar (Eng) 72 72 73, S Tiley (Eng) 69 72 76, B Stow (Eng) 71 70 76, Z Zhuang (Chn) 72 72 73,
218 J Sjöholm (Swe) 70 74 74, M Armitage (Eng) 75 67 76, O Bekker (SAf) 71 72 75, B Evans (Eng) 72 72 74,
219 J Ye (Chn) 73 69 77,
220 M Ovesen (Den) 72 71 77,
221 B Macpherson (Aus) 73 71 77,
222 M Kim (S Korea) 71 71 80
223 O Lengden (Swe) 71 72 80
225 D Brandt-Richards (Aus) 70 73 82