Moving Day at the Ras Al Khaimah 2016 Golf Challenge certainly lived up to its billing as Marcus Kinhult stormed through the field to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the European Challenge Tour’s penultimate event of the season.
The Swede was bogey-free in a seven under par round of 65 to reach 16 under par, with Pedro Oriol, Max Orrin and Jordan Smith his closest challengers at Al Hamra Golf Club.
Kinhult came into the week 68th on the Road to Oman and in need of a top three finish to qualify for the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, but the 20 year old insisted he was trying not to think of the wider significance of his excellent third round.
“I’m trying not to think of Grand Final at all,” he said. “It’s a long way to go and plenty of guys chasing who are in the same position as me, needing a top three or a top five, so it’s going to be tough tomorrow.
“Today it felt easy. I played pretty solid from the first hole until the end, didn’t really cause myself too many problems. I made a few longer putts and saved two nice pars which kept the momentum going a little bit on the back nine.
“I wasn’t really targeting anything today, just trying to play better than I did the last two days. I didn’t want to complicate it too much, I just went out there and played my best.
“I’m getting there I think. My form has been on the rise for the last couple of weeks and months and I’ve been doing good things in practice and that’s starting to pay off, so that’s a good feeling.
“The start of the year was pretty tough for me. I got a European Tour card at Q-School last year but I didn’t make many cuts and struggled with my game so I came to the Challenge Tour in June.
“I started pretty well, in Denmark, and made some cuts but not really any high finishes – it’s a very high level out here, and it’s hard work every week to finish in the top ten or the top five and I like that.
“I’ll try to be comfortable with leading. It’s not a situation I’ve been in too many times before but I’ll just try to stick to my game and do the same as I did today, then we’ll see what happens.”
Englishman Smith finished his round with back-to-back birdies to move into the group on 14 under par as he aims to regain his Number One Ranking, with current Road to Oman leader Alexander Knappe having missed the cut.
Overnight leader Romain Langasque struggled on a good day for scoring, the Frenchman’s two under par round of 70 leaving him on 13 under par, still well in the hunt for a maiden Challenge Tour win, alongside a pair of Scots, David Law and Duncan Stewart, England’s James Heath and Garrick Porteous, and playing partner Pontus Widegren of Sweden.
