Ricardo Gonzalez recovered from an uncertain start to storm to pole position after the third round of the 60th Italian Open Telecom Italia at Gardagolf.
The 33 year old Argentine, winner of the Omega European Masters in 2001, carded a 66 for a 13 under par total of 203 to move one shot clear of four players, Pierre Fulke, Pehr Magnebrant, Rolf Muntz and the leader after the first two rounds, Peter O’Malley.
Gonzalez started the day in a share of seventh place but looked unlikely to command even a place in the top ten when, at the par five second hole, his drive found the trees, his cut three wood second found the water, and he completed the misery with a three putt for a double bogey seven.
It was then the big-hitting Argentine made a decision which turned his fortunes around. “I decided then not to use my driver so much, I realised I didn’t need it and would hit three wood or three iron instead,” he said.
“I was very steady after that and was very pleased with the way I played. I have won on Tour before so I know what it takes and I will try and use that experience going into the final round tomorrow.”
Certainly, if Gonzalez plays the way he did for the remaining 16 holes of his third round he will be hard to catch. The man from Corrientes birdied four of the last five holes in an outward half of 34 and followed that with four birdies on the inward half for an excellent 66.
While Gonzalez struggled in the opening stretch, the exact opposite was the case for Peter O’Malley, who shared the halfway lead with Sweden’s Fredrik Widmark, and who birdied the first and eagled the third hole to put daylight between himself and the rest of the field.
But the 37 year old Australian, a three time winner on The European Tour International Schedule, could not maintain the momentum. Three bogeys found their way onto his card in the remaining 15 holes, two birdies seeing him home in 70 to share second spot.
“I got off to such a good start and obviously I would have liked to have kept it going but it didn’t work out that way,” he said. “But I played pretty well overall, I only hit one or two bad shots and I got penalised for it. I holed a lot of long putts but I missed a lot of short ones so I’ll just go and work on that a little bit.
“Obviously I would have liked to have still been on top at the end of the day but I’m only one back which isn’t too bad so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Alongside O’Malley on 12 under par 204 was one of the heroes of last year’s Ryder Cup success at The De Vere Belfry, Pierre Fulke, making his first appearance of the season and indeed making his first competitive appearance anywhere in the world since last November’s Volvo Masters Andalucia, who matched the Australian’s 66.
The 32 year old Swede inflamed an old wrist injury in Spain and decided to take a clean break away from the game to give that a chance to heal as well as recharging his batteries after the rigours of the 2002 season and The Ryder Cup. He spent his time renovating an old six bedroom house he bought in his native Sweden.
“It was a big renovation so obviously I had people in to help me but I was there every day too myself doing my bit,” said Fulke. “I always planned to have a long break even though I hadn’t bought the house but it’s given me the desire now to play again.”
He may have spent the winter drilling in nails but his third round was all about drilling in birdie putts, six in all in the first 11 holes, and although the red figures dried up in the final seven holes, the Swede remained in good position to claim his fourth title on The European Tour International Schedule.
Sharing second spot with Fulke and O’Malley were Sweden’s Pehr Magnebrant and Rolf Muntz of the Netherlands, Challenge Tour player Magnebrant carding a 68 while Muntz, winner of the 2000 Qatar Masters, posted a 69.
England’s Gary Clark ended the third round in sixth spot on 11 under par 205 while seven players bunched together in seventh place on ten under par 206. However, not amongst their number was one of the pre-tournament favourites Colin Montgomerie, who slipped back to eight under par for the tournament thanks to a double bogey six at the 12th.
