In the Cazoo Open de France Rasmus Hojgaard overcame a quintuple-bogey to maintain a one-shot lead going into the final round.
At Le Golf National, the Ryder Cup hopeful entered the weekend with a commanding six-shot lead, but he quickly lost the tournament when he hit three balls into the water on the par-three second hole.
Hojgaard reached the green after four attempts and made a 14-foot putt to record a quintuple-bogey eight. However, he lost more ground when his subsequent tee shot found the water, leading to a bogey at the par-five third.
Despite shooting a front-nine 40, the 21-year-old recovered with birdies at the sixth and eighth holes to lead at the turn. He made another birdie at the eleventh hole before missing from 10 feet to preserve par at the next.
Hojgaard increased his lead with a birdie at the par-five 12th hole and increased it to three shots with a 30-foot putt at the 17th. However, his lead was reduced to one shot after a two-shot swing at the par-four last hole.
As his playing partner George Coetzee rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt to climb to 11 under, the Danish player finished with a three-over 74 after finding the rough off the tee and failing to get up and down from short of the green to save par.
“It’s obviously not the Saturday I wanted but at the same time I’m just happy that I stayed in there, managed to make some birdies and I still have the lead,” Hojgaard said. “So I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I’ll just be patient. I showed out there today that by being patient I managed to make a few birdies and not let it affect me too much. Hopefully I’ll get off to a better start but I’ll stay patient and trust what I’m doing.”
Coetzee shot a third-round 68 with five birdies and two bogeys, boosting his chances of winning a sixth DP World Tour championship. Thomas Pieters shot a bogey-free 66 to move into a tie for third place and to within two strokes of the lead with Paul Barjon.
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