On a leaderboard dominated by Swedes it is Niclas Fasth who remains in the driving seat for the Madeira Island Open title after extending his lead to two shots with a four under par 68 at the spectacular Santo da Serra course.
Starting a shot ahead of the field, the 27-year-old burst out of the blocks with five successive threes from the second, including an eagle of the third, to move to 11 under par and seemingly in control of the tournament with a five shot lead. But a couple of mistakes over the closing holes brought him back to ten under par and within reach of the chasing pack, just two ahead of England’s Jim Payne.
Payne is a lonely figure in second place with no fewer than six Swedes occupying the top seven places. Three of their fellow countrymen have laid claim to this title in the past seven years and it looks a fair bet that a fourth Swede will emerge victorious at the end of the tomorrow’s final round.
In their way stands Payne, twice a European Tour winner, but a player needing to win this week to regain his Tour membership. The 29-year-old has been plagued by injury over the past few years and missed the end of the 1999 season with a thunb injury. His medical exemption expired in Dubai and unless he wins this week he will be relying on invitations for much of the forthcoming season.
“This tournament is not mine to throw away,” he said. “It is mine to have a go at which is positive.
“I never really looked like dropping a shot today which is half the battle around here. I’m playing nicely but every shot here there is something to worry about. You are focused on the shot so you don’t worry about other people.”
Ahead of him lies Fasth, winner of four Challenge Tour events including last year’s Warsaw Golf Open but twice denied on the European Tour. In 1995 Colin Montgomerie edged him into second in the Volvo German Open and two years later he was overhauled by a late birdie blitz from Bernhard Langer in the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open. Having qualified for the US Tour in 1998 he tried playing in both Europe and America but succeeded in only losing both cards. However, last November he finished second to Alistair Forsyth in the Qualifying School Finals to regain his Tour card and now feels ready to make his European Tour breakthrough.
“I feel good about my game and having such a strong position going into the final round should give me a really good chance,” he said. “I feel really confident about it. It’s going to be fun.”
Four shots off the lead is Raimo Sjoberg who shot a two under par 70 despite the handicap of having his putter stolen the night before. Having found a replacement, he proceeded to roll in five birdies during the course of the round.
Henrik Stenson is on five under par while Mikael Lundberg, Fredik Henberg and Richard S Johnson, who returned a best of the day 67, occupying fifth place on four under par.
