Garcia takes four-stroke lead into final round
CASTELLON, Spain - Sergio Garcia surged in front of the field to take a four-shot lead into the final day of the CASTELLÓ MASTERS Costa Azahar, the tournament he is hosting on the course he played as a boy.
The Spaniard was in sparkling form again at the Club de Campo del Mediterráneo, where his father Victor is still the professional, firing a five under par 66 in the third round following scores of 66 and 65 to put him on 16 under overall - a substantial advantage over Englishmen David Lynn and Simon Dyson and Swede Peter Hedblom, who all shot 68 today to join Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen (70) at 12 under.
Richard Finch briefly threatened to overthrow Garcia, but the Yorkshireman fell apart on the back nine and had to settle for a level par 71.
Garcia birdied the second with a long putt and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the front nine as he picked up shots on four consecutive holes to reach the halfway point five under for the day.
One of those birdies came when he holed a tricky bunker shot at the eighth, typifying his superb touch around the greens, and his putting was equally impressive.
He wobbled slightly after the turn, hitting a wedge out the back of the tenth green and then blasting his tee shot way left on 11 as he attempted to drive the length of the par four hole.
He should have immediately made amends but he missed a five-foot putt for birdie at the par three 12th, although Finch, at the time level with the Spaniard on 14 under, was even more wasteful, missing his second putt from inside a metre.
Garcia birdied 13 and 14, leaving Finch trailing in his wake, and he improved to 17 under with another birdie at the par three 16th, having only just cleared the lake from the tee.
He bogeyed the 17th but parred the last - narrowly missing a lengthy birdie putt - to complete another impressive score.
Alvaro Quiros, who won the Portugal Masters last week, started the day just two shots off the leaders but endured a torrid round, signing for a 76 to fall way back on four under.
Englishman Sam Little strengthened his chances of automatically retaining his European Tour card for 2009 with a flawless five under par 66 to leave him six under, while Scotsman Stephen Gallacher had the round of the day - a six under par 65 propelling him up the leaderboard to 11 under.Return to Other Tours archives