Bernd Wiesberger charged to a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Shenzhen International after a roller coaster day at Genzon Golf Club.
The three-time European Tour champion entered round three with a four-shot advantage but quickly saw that wiped out by Grégory Bourdy, who joined Mikko Korhonen in making a hole-in-one on Saturday, however a strong finish from the Austrian saw him sign for a 69 and a 15 under par total.
South African Dylan Frittelli is three shots off the pace (68) after a birdie-birdie finish, with countrymen Dean Burmester and George Coetzee at 11 under, joined by England’s Ross Fisher and American David Lipsky in a share of third.
Alexander Levy, a victor here in 2014 at the Volvo China Open and the course record holder, produced an impressive round of 64 to sit alongside fellow Frenchman Bourdy, local favourite Liu Yan-Wei and American Bubba Watson on ten under.
Korhonen won a BYD Tang SUV after acing the 220-yard 16th hole on Saturday morning as he completed his second round. His first hole-in-one on the European Tour, Korhonen wasn’t initially aware he had holed out with his four-iron to win the hybrid car valued at US$43,500.
Bourdy followed suit when he produced his second hole-in-one of the 2017 season on the 185-yard third hole with a seven-iron straight to the pin.
Bernd Wiesberger
“I didn’t start off really well. I hit a couple of crooked shots and left a couple of putts out there but then from when I holed the putt on seven I felt more comfortable out there and rolling the ball a bit better.
“I thought I played better from seven or eight onwards, definitely not as good as I played the first two days, but you know it’s just one of those days. I was in a similar position a couple weeks ago in Malaysia and had a sloppier day, so I’m happy with the way I bounced back and to shoot three under par is a decent score today.
“I would have loved to see that last one drop as well but I had a good one go in on fifteen and seventeen which was a bonus. It’s tough to read the greens when it’s getting that dark but it’s a good position to be in. The guys were coming at me hard early on today as well so I’m expecting no less for tomorrow, so I’m just trying to commit to my shots and enjoy it out there.
Dylan Frittelli
“It was awesome – a round today of 68 – three of them in a row now so looking to be in good form going into Sunday.
“It felt great. I love playing in front of crowds, there were tonnes of people following us – not as much as the Bubba Watson group in front of us – but we still had a few fans watching and I really felt comfortable, I swung really well today, made a few putts and I’m pleased with the way I played.
“It’s a tough track if you don’t hit the fairways, so I’ve just got to keep hitting fairways, keep hitting greens and then hopefully tomorrow I make a few putts. I’m going to need to do that with Bernd (Wiesberger) playing so well so hopefully I will track him down tomorrow.
David Lipsky
“I played great today. It was a long day but I stuck in there and the game is feeling good. This is why I play – to put myself in positions like this and have a chance to win – obviously Bernd (Wiesberger) is playing well but we will see what happens tomorrow.
“I missed some opportunities on the front nine, was a little bit sloppy but my game was feeling good and I just trusted it and was able to hole some putts on the back.
Dean Burmester
“I obviously went out in 32, played really nicely, then struggled to score a bit on the back nine when the wind came up, and the putter went cold on me which was unfortunate, but you know 11 under par, we’ll see what Bernd does coming in but hopefully I will be in with a decent shot tomorrow.
“My iron play was stellar today, I hardly missed a green, so I felt really confident over the golf ball so if I can keep striking it like that tomorrow it should be alright. I’m excited to see what tomorrow has in store.
Mikko Korhonen
“I hit a four iron. It was good, I didn’t see it go in but I found the ball in the hole so it was nice. It is amazing. I actually took one club extra this morning because it was quite chilly so I got lucky there.
It’s really nice, BYD is a hybrid car I guess. It’s very nice they present this kind of car here in China to help the environment and sponsor the tournament. I ended up making the cut and winning a car – not bad!
Scores after round three:
201 B Wiesberger (Aut) 67 65 69,
204 D Frittelli (RSA) 68 68 68,
205 D Lipsky (USA) 73 65 67, D Burmester (RSA) 67 70 68, G Coetzee (RSA) 70 68 67, R Fisher (Eng) 71 65 69,
206 L Yan-Wei (Chn) 69 71 66, B Watson (USA) 66 70 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 67 69 70, A Levy (Fra) 74 68 64,
207 J Smith (Eng) 69 69 69, B Rumford (Aus) 72 67 68,
208 T Olesen (Den) 68 68 72, D Im (USA) 69 70 69,
209 F Zanotti (Par) 71 70 68, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 68 72, T Jaidee (Tha) 67 72 70, A Björk (Swe) 71 67 71, T Fleetwood (Eng) 69 71 69, B Stone (RSA) 74 71 64,
210 J Morrison (Eng) 70 66 74, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 71 67, J Quesne (Fra) 71 68 71, M Armitage (Eng) 71 71 68, E De La Riva (Esp) 68 73 69, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 72 68,
211 B Ritthammer (Ger) 69 73 69, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 70 72, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 69 73, R Fox (Nzl) 71 71 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 66 70, L Yuxin (Chn) 74 67 70,
212 J Luiten (Ned) 71 71 70, M Ilonen (Fin) 73 71 68, J Scrivener (Aus) 70 72 70, M Southgate (Eng) 72 71 69, D Stewart (Sco) 71 67 74, M Kieffer (Ger) 67 72 73, P Hanson (Swe) 70 71 71, P Dunne (Irl) 70 72 70, H Porteous (RSA) 67 73 72,
213 P Uihlein (USA) 71 70 72, N Elvira (Esp) 71 74 68, L Xue-Wen (Chn) 71 72 70, R Gouveia (Por) 72 72 69, B Hebert (Fra) 72 70 71, M Korhonen (Fin) 74 68 71,
214 S Brazel (Aus) 71 74 69, C Zi-Hao (Chn) 73 69 72, R Karlberg (Swe) 74 70 70, H Ze-Yu (Chn) 72 72 70,
215 D Drysdale (Sco) 70 72 73, Z Hui-Lin (Chn) 71 74 70, P Peterson (USA) 74 71 70, R Bland (Eng) 73 71 71, R Wattel (Fra) 71 73 71, Y Tian (Chn) 71 73 71, A Dodt (Aus) 70 73 72,
216 M Manassero (Ita) 70 71 75, A Knappe (Ger) 74 70 72, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 76, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 69 75, L Bjerregaard (Den) 71 74 71, G Storm (Eng) 74 68 74, N Colsaerts (Bel) 75 70 71,
217 W Hongfu (Chn) 72 69 76, J Walters (RSA) 73 70 74,
218 D Howell (Eng) 70 74 74, E Molinari (Ita) 75 70 73,
219 G Havret (Fra) 70 71 78, H Wen-Yi (Chn) 71 74 74,
221 C Paisley (Eng) 72 73 76,
223 L Ding-Feng (Chn) 69 75 79,
225 J Lagergren (Swe) 72 72 81,
146 W Ashun (Chn) 71 75 0, J Da-Xing (Chn) 75 71 0, B Dredge (Wal) 74 72 0, C Pigem (Esp) 75 71 0, C Hanson (Eng) 70 76 0, R Langasque (Fra) 70 76 0,
147 J Van Zyl (RSA) 75 72 0, F Aguilar (Chi) 74 73 0, N Fasth (Swe) 75 72 0, S Zi-Han (Chn) 77 70 0, R Jacquelin (Fra) 78 69 0, X Bowen (Chn) 78 69 0, Z Guo-Wu (Chn) 74 73 0, P Waring (Eng) 73 74 0, P Edberg (Swe) 73 74 0, A Otaegui (Esp) 74 73 0,
148 R Paratore (Ita) 73 75 0, C Hai-Meng (Chn) 76 72 0, J Campillo (Esp) 72 76 0, S Hend (Aus) 73 75 0, M Pavon (Fra) 79 69 0,
149 M Siem (Ger) 71 78 0, T Rongjian (Chn) 75 74 0, H Zeming (Chn) 72 77 0, A Chesters (Eng) 75 74 0,
150 W Tu-Xuan (Chn) 78 72 0, M Carlsson (Swe) 72 78 0, J Carlsson (Swe) 79 71 0, Y Guang-Ming (Chn) 74 76 0, Z Jin (Chn) 75 75 0, C Shinkwin (Eng) 75 75 0, L Xin-Yang (Chn) 80 70 0, J Lima (Por) 76 74 0, Z Wei-Yu (Chn) 76 74 0, W Xu (Chn) 73 77 0, S Lee (Kor) 75 75 0, L Haotong (Chn) 75 75 0,
151 Z Lianwei (Chn) 80 71 0, L Slattery (Eng) 75 76 0, K Broberg (Swe) 78 73 0, N Bertasio (Ita) 75 76 0, D Brooks (Eng) 76 75 0, L Xiaofei (Chn) 74 77 0, D Perrier (Fra) 73 78 0, L Jensen (Den) 75 76 0, X Yixin (Chn) 75 76 0,
152 L Chun (Chn) 77 75 0, R Karlsson (Swe) 73 79 0, D Fichardt (RSA) 75 77 0, H Mu (Chn) 73 79 0, S Walker (Eng) 75 77 0, G Stal (Fra) 73 79 0, W Wei-Huang (Chn) 75 77 0,
153 S Yan (Chn) 80 73 0, Y Yi-Nong (Chn) 79 74 0, C Ding-Gen (Chn) 74 79 0, M Yiyuan (Chn) 76 77 0, O Zheng (Chn) 76 77 0,
154 C Yi (Chn) 80 74 0, Y Hao (Chn) 79 75 0, C Changping (Chn) 75 79 0, W Dongyu (Chn) 75 79 0,
155 Y Bin (Chn) 76 79 0,
156 L Gui-Ming (Chn) 77 79 0, H Ren (Chn) 78 78 0, Y Jian-Feng (Chn) 78 78 0,
157 X Qin (Chn) 82 75 0,
159 P Qihao (Chn) 81 78 0,
160 Z Shang (Chn) 80 80 0,
161 L Fangyi (Chn) 83 78 0, P Angles (Esp) 78 83 0, L Zehao (Chn) 84 77 0,
163 L Hao-Yuan (Chn) 86 77 0,
165 T Peiyi (Chn) 84 81 0,
** S Gros (Fra) 75 DQ 0, Z Jia (Chn) 80 RT 0, Y Yang (Kor) 79 RT 0, H Shao-Cai (Chn) 78 WD 0, V Dubuisson (Fra) 76 WD 0, N Holman (Aus) RT 0 0, S Dong (Chn) RT 0 0, S Dyson (Eng) RT 0 0,
