George Coetzee. Pic; Getty Images/ European Tour
Vilamoura, Spain, Sep 13: Shubhankar Sharma’s solid start with three birdies in first five holes faded somewhat as he ended the day with one-under 71 in the third round of the 2020 Portugal Masters. Sharma, who had rallied in the second round with a 67, is now 5-under 214 in three rounds and lying T-40th ahead of the final round.
South Africa’s George Coetzee will start the final round in search of a fifth European Tour win as he takes a one shot lead into the final round. He produced a remarkable eagle-birdie finish on day three to sign for an impressive 66 and move to 11 under par.
Sharma birdied the second, fourth and fifth but dropped a shot in between on third for a front nine of 2-under 34. A birdie each on 12th and 18th with bogeys on 14th and 15th meant an even par back nine for a total of 70.
Coetzee, who won on the Sunshine Tour at Pretoria Country Club last week, had started the day eight strokes behind Julien Guerrier but the Frenchman’s five stroke overnight advantage turned into a one shot deficit after he failed to make a single birdie in his four over par 75.
The 34-year-old reached the turn in 34 shots after sandwiching a bogey on the seventh between birdies at the fourth and eighth. After taking advantage of the par four 15th for the third day in a row, Coetzee came agonisingly close to holing his approach into the long 17th for an albatross but had to settle for a tap-in eagle to climb to ten under. And he finished off with a confident 12 foot birdie putt at the last to get to 11 under.
Niklas Lemke and Laurie Canter shared fourth place on nine under after firing rounds of 65 and 68 respectively.
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