Shane Lowry will have to make up five shots in tomorrow’s final round if he is to claim his first European Tour victory since the 2012 Portugal Masters after Graeme Storm assumed control of the European Masters this afternoon.
Storm won a sports car worth in the region of €150,000 for a hole-in-one and moved into pole position to earn the €350,000 first prize in the Omega European Masters on Saturday.
Storm holed out with a six iron on the 11th at Crans-sur-Sierre on his way to a third round of 64 and one-shot lead over fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood.
The 36-year-old lies a lowly 159th on the Race to Dubai, perhaps explaining the wild celebrations as he realised he had won the BMW i8 parked behind the tee.
“To win something like that is marvellous,” Storm said after his round. “I have not got a car at the moment so it’s not a bad start is it? I can’t afford one at the moment, I have played that bad this year I’ve had to give it back.”
Storm won the French Open in 2007 but has missed the cut 14 times in 23 events this season, adding: “This feels great. It’s unbelievable.
“I did not expect to shoot a score like that today to be honest because I have been struggling all year, so to be in this position is marvellous.”
Fleetwood carded a superb 63 featuring eight birdies and one bogey to finish 15 under par, one shot ahead of American Brooks Koepka who had shared the lead with Storm until finding water on the last to run up a double bogey.
“I made a two on the 11th and said I deserved a car,” Fleetwood said jokingly, with Storm needing a somewhat lucky bounce off the back of a bunker to get to the tricky pin position.
“My game has been good the last few weeks. I’m generally finding it on the range but then it’s always important to take it out onto the golf course.
“My iron play today was really good, I don’t remember a shot I did not hit on my line and I got on a roll with the putter midway through the round so it was just a great day.”
Welshman Jamie Donaldson, looking for back-to-back wins after victory in the Czech Masters, held a two-shot lead after four birdies in his first six holes but ran up a triple bogey on the 12th and double bogey on the 14th.
Birdies on the 13th and 15th limited the damage but a third round of 69 left the Ryder Cup player three off the lead on 12 under par alongside halfway leader Richie Ramsay and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.
Ramsay, winner here in 2012, got off to a nightmare start with three bogeys in the first four holes but battled back to record a level-par 70, while Hatton had eagles on the first and ninth in his 65.
Earlier in the day, Ireland’s Peter Lawrie had threatened to record the first ever 59 on the European Tour before being forced to settle for a round of 62 as he reached nine under, one behind Gareth Maybin.
Collated third round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70):
194 Graeme Storm 64 66 64
195 Tommy Fleetwood 64 68 63
196 Brooks Koepka (USA) 65 65 66
197 David Lipsky (USA) 67 64 66
198 Tyrrell Hatton 67 66 65, Richie Ramsay 62 66 70, Jamie Donaldson 65 64 69
199 Shane Lowry 66 65 68
200 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 65 67 68, Marco Crespi (Ita) 69 69 62, Gareth Maybin 64 67 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 62 70 68
201 Danny Willett 67 70 64, Peter Lawrie 69 70 62, Lee Slattery 68 68 65
202 Romain Wattel (Fra) 68 69 65, Richard Green (Aus) 71 64 67, David Lynn 65 68 69, Seve Benson 65 67 70, James Morrison 66 69 67, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 72 65 65
203 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 66 68 69, Marc Warren 69 63 71, Peter Whiteford 68 65 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 66 70 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 65 69 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 66 68
204 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 66 67 71, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 67 71 66, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 66 65, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 67 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 67 69, Gary Stal (Fra) 71 66 67, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 66 68 70, Joachim B Hansen (Den) 72 67 65, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 69 67 68, Peter Uihlein (USA) 72 67 65, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 67 67 70, Mark Foster 69 68 67
205 Craig Lee 66 70 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 69 68, Matthew Nixon 66 69 70, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 68 71 66, Scott Jamieson 70 69 66, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 65 71, Jamie McLeary 66 70 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 69 67, Francois Calmels (Fra) 70 68 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 70 67, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 69 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 70 67 68
206 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 68 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 66 72 68, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 68 68 70, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 70 68 68, Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 70 69 67, Michael Hoey 65 68 73, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 68 69
207 Richard Bland 70 69 68, Seuk-hyun Baek (Kor) 69 70 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 67 71 69, David Howell 69 70 68, Martin Rominger (Swi) 68 70 69, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 69 68, Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 68 73, David Drysdale 66 73 68, Paul Lawrie 70 68 69
208 John Parry 71 68 69, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 65 70, Matthew Baldwin 68 68 72
209 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 72 66 71, Robert Rock 69 69 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 67 70 72, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 66 70 73, Padraig Harrington 66 71 72, Bradley Dredge 70 69 70
210 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 72 67 71, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 66 73 71
211 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 68 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 70 68 73
213 Johan Carlsson (Swe) 70 69 74
216 Jin Jeong (Kor) 71 68 77
