Bernd Wiesberger and Michael Hollick share a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the BMW International Open.
Related: Du Plessis produces grandstand finish to lead in Munich
The pair navigated themselves through tricky conditions on moving day at Golfclub München Eichenried to reach 13 under par, one ahead of Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz.
Wiesberger overcame an early bogey by carding six birdies in his round of 67 to set the clubhouse target, before Hollick signed for a three under 69 to join him at the top of the leaderboard.
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The South African jumped two clear at one point when he holed back-to-back birdies from the ninth, but Wiesberger followed suit by picking up shots at the 15th and 16th as they moved to 13 under.
Wiesberger took the outright lead when Hollick dropped a shot at the 11th, before Ortiz joined the South African at 12 under after birdieing the 11th for the third day in a row.
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Nine-time DP World Tour winner Wiesberger parred his way home to set the target, with Hollick re-joining the Austrian at the summit with a birdie at the 16th.
The 16th seemed to be the lucky hole as Ortiz drained a 12-foot putt to make it a three-way tie at the top. Ortiz bogeyed the next to slip back one and could not birdie the final hole for the third successive round to sit one off the pace of the leading pair.
Home favourite Thomas Rosenmueller produced the round of day to surge into contention. Despite bogeying the opening hole, he carded an eagle, seven birdies and another dropped shot in his 65 to sit in a share of fourth.
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Overnight leader Hennie Du Plessis birdied the last to join Rosenmueller in a share of fourth at 11 under, while Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy and England’s Jack Senior were a shot adrift in a tie for sixth.
One shot further back were Spaniard Manuel Elvira, South African Casey Jarvis, France’s Jeong weon Ko and Marco Penge, making his first start since the U.S. PGA Championship.
Player quotes
Bernd Wiesberger: It was good. It was tricky out there today. After a long, sunny, windy day yesterday, you could feel the course drying out and on the approaches you could see the golf course playing quite differently. It’s way bouncier on the greens so I had to adapt a little bit and did that well.
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I was quite patient all day, even bogeying the third hole early on. All in all felt quite solid. I kept myself out of trouble for the most part, and if I wasn’t, I scrambled well on the par threes on the back nine.
I’m very pleased with that and I think in these conditions, 67 is pretty solid score. It was very similar to yesterday afternoon when we played. Maybe a touch more wind, but we kind of had a similar direction. It’s evolving nicely after the rainfall on Wednesday, so a good test.
Michael Hollick: It was pretty tough. Greens have firmed up quite a bit. They’re quick and obviously the wind is up.
We made one bad mental error on 11, laying it up into the edge of the bunker, which wasn’t great and made my only bogey of the day.
But outside of that, it was pretty steady golf. I said yesterday in an interview, hitting greens is pretty important around here. I think there’s a big premium on that, and I think I’m doing a good job of that. It’s tough.
I mean, the 18th, there’s not much grass around that cup at all, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s putted in the water today.
It’s awesome. When we walked down the fairway, I thought to myself I’m doing something I never thought I was going to have the chance to do. I’m 39 years old, I’m living my dream. Can’t ask for much more than that, to be honest.
Carlos Ortiz: Honestly, very solid. I played very good. Probably the day I played the best out of the last three days. All you want is to have a chance for Sunday, so I feel like I have a good chance for tomorrow. It seemed as though conditions were a lot trickier today.
The golf course is playing a little bit faster and I actually really like those conditions. I think they play in my favour. I was excited to see the golf course play a little bit tougher today
I just feel like it requires to be more precise with your whole game, around the greens and your second shot is not throwing darts. I feel like it requires a bit more thought to the game, and I like that.
