John Parry produced a sensational moving day round to climb into a two-stroke lead in the Italian Challenge Open and close in on a third win of the Road to Mallorca season.
The 35-year-old signed for a six under par round of 65 on a low scoring day at Argentario Golf Club, to catapult himself to 15 under par for the week and two strokes clear of Irishman Conor Purcell who occupies solo second.
The Englishman would seal automatic promotion to the DP World Tour with victory in Tuscany tomorrow and join Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen as the second three-time winner on the Challenge Tour this season.
Parry is the Road to Mallorca Number Two and has all but guaranteed promotion to golf’s Global Tour at the end of the year, but is excited by the prospect of securing a third win tomorrow.
“I think it makes me a lot more relaxed for tomorrow, knowing that I’ve got my card for next year already, but I would obviously like to get my third win,” he said.
“It would be great to do it, but I know it’s going to be a challenge. I’m looking forward to it though.
“I just need to keep playing how I’m playing. There are some low rounds out there and I think someone will do that tomorrow, so it depends if it’s anyone near me, but I’ll go out and try to shoot four or five under and see what happens.”
Parry started the day two shots back from overnight leader Sam Hutsby but got off to a blistering start by firing five birdies in his opening five holes to move into the lead for the first time.
The Englishman added another gain at the ninth to go out in 29, before a double bogey at the 13th – his first dropped shots of the week – looked to have halted his progress. He responded with birdies at the 16th and 18th to jump two clear with 18 holes to play.
“It was a bit of a game of two halves,” he added. “I played like that the first two days, but I holed my putts on the front nine today.
“I hit it close and didn’t really miss a shot and I felt like it could’ve been more as well. I made a ten-footer on the first to get some momentum.
“I was five under through nine on the first day and I’ve never shot ten under so that was definitely in my mind today but it wasn’t to be. It puts me in a good position though so I’m happy.”
Englishman Hutsby shares third place on 12 under par with Finn Oliver Lindell who fired a round-of-the-week nine under par 62 to climb into contention. Englishman Josh Hilleard and South African Justin Walters are a shot further back in fifth on 11 under par.
The final round of the Italian Challenge Open gets under way at 8:00am local time with Parry teeing off alongside Purcell and Lindell at 10:05am.
