Nilsson dominates in St Omer
Sweden’s Christian Nilsson held a four-shot lead after the third round of the Saint-Omer Open in northern France following a six-under-par 65 today.
Last year’s runner-up carded the joint lowest round of the tournament so far to move onto 11 under par overall and sit well clear of England’s James Morrison.
Nilsson shot five birdies and an eagle at the par-five ninth to give himself a great chance of going one better this time.
He told the PGA European Tour website, www.europeantour.com: “Today’s round was very satisfying, especially on the front nine. I got off to a good rhythm from the start, and just carried it on.
“The key was probably my putting. I’ve putted well all week really, but today nearly everything I hit dropped in the hole.”
Morrison, from Surrey, fired a 70, his worst round so far, but still lay three shots clear of four players.
One of those was another Swede, Fredrik Andersson Hed, who led the way after the opening round, but a second-round 73 and today’s level-par 71 damaged his hopes.
Also on four under were Welshman Sion Bebb, Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima and Australian Wade Ormsby.
Bebb shot a 67 today, Lima a 69 and Ormsby, who had led the field after the second round – a disappointing three-over-par 74.
England’s Adam Gee and Simon Wakefield were two of five players on three under.
At the other end of the leaderboard Leeds’ Danny Dennison continued his comeback from a severely broken leg with a 75 to sit seven over for the tournament.
The Saint Omer Open is only the 24-year-old’s third tournament back after the injury he suffered two years ago.
He said: “It’s just nice to be back and feeling fit again, because I was out for a long time. But the leg feels fine and everything’s healed, so hopefully I can start getting my career back on track.”
