Klas Eriksson maintains the lead at the ECCO Tour Championship
Swede Klas Eriksson maintained the lead after round three of the ECCO Tour Championship hosted by Thomas Björn & Mercedes-Benz after recording a one-over par 73 on Friday, August 17, 2012.
Eriksson started off his third round campaign at the Stensballegaard Golf Klub with a four-stroke advantage over Jordi Garcia Pinto.
A couple of birdies on the third and fourth hole extended his lead to six strokes. However, he failed to maintain consistency in his game and suffered five bogeys against two birdies, afterwards.
As a result, his lead shortened to only one stroke after a pack of four players surged to the tied second place with a 10-under par overall score.
Eriksson’s compatriot Kristoffer Broberg is also among the players who settled for the share of the second position.
Broberg currently aims a hat-trick this week, as he won each of the last two tournaments held on the Challenge Tour.
If he succeeds in his aim, he will become the only player in the history to earn a European Tour card just after four starts on the European Challenge Tour.
Eriksson also praised Broberg for his confidence and expected a strong competition in the final round on Saturday.
“Golf is such a great game when you have confidence, and Kristoffer’s confidence must be unbelievably high at the moment,” he said.
“He must feel pretty invincible right now.... We were playing in the group behind him today, and he found virtually every fairway and every green, so I’m a little surprised he didn’t go even lower than he did”.
“I think his scoring average over the past 11 rounds must be about 65! No doubt he’ll go and shoot another low one tomorrow, so I’m going to have to play very well to beat him,” he added.
In the meantime, Chris Paisley recorded the best round of the day, a nine-under par 63. He remained one stroke shy off the course record set by Eriksson in the second round.
He registered five birdies each before and after the turn. However, a bogey on the second hole forced him to remain at nine-under. He currently holds the tied sixth position.
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