Ryan Fox finishes the third day at the Mallorca Golf Open with six birdies and no bogeys to join Yannik Paul at the top of the leaderboard on 16 under par; England's Dale Whitnell and Marcus Armitage share third place with their compatriot in fifth on 13 under
Sunday 23 October 2022 18:30, UK
Ryan Fox and Yannik Paul are tied in first place going into the final round of the Mallorca Open.
New Zealand's Fox is looking for his third victory of the 2022 season after finishing the third day at the Son Muntaner Golf Club with six birdies and no bogeys to join Paul at the top of the leaderboard on 16 under par.
Germany's Paul made three eagles and three birdies on Saturday to stay at 16 under himself on a low-scoring day.
England's Dale Whitnell and Marcus Armitage were in joint third place on 14 under par with another Briton, Richard Mansell one stroke behind them in fifth.
"I probably only hit two bad shots - the tee-shot at the first and the tee-shot on the 14th," Fox reflected.
"I gave myself plenty of chances again. Maybe felt like I left a couple out there but also made a few as well.
"It's always good to go bogey-free again, it's probably a record for me that many holes bogey-free so far this week.
"Hopefully I can continue that tomorrow."
He is looking to gain on rankings leader Rory McIlroy. "Obviously I'd like to get closer," he said, "and give him a bit of a run.
"It's certainly a position I didn't expect to be in at the start of the year. I'm trying to treat these last couple of events - this one and Nedbank - that I can try to get as close as possible and try to make it a bit more interesting.
"But regardless I'm pretty happy to be here and tomorrow I'll just go out and do what I've done all year, just try to beat the golf course and see what happens."
Paul had begun the third day four shots off the lead but made an excellent start to advance.
He almost holed his tee-shot at the short fourth before birdying there. Paul took an eagle at the fifth after slotting an 11-foot putt. At the eighth he scored another eagle and at the 11th landed his third eagle of the round from nine feet.
"That's obviously a special day," Paul said after his 62.
"Once I made the eagle on the 11th, I was nine under through 11 and thought 'maybe I could shoot 59 today'.
"Then I played well, but just the putts didn't drop. But overall obviously really happy with my round."
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