Zander Lombard went bogey-free on Saturday as he climbed to within four strokes of the lead ahead of the final round with a six-under-par 65 in the DP World Tour’s acciona Open de Espana at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in Spain.
Lombard made three birdies on each of the nines, and he moved to 12-under-par and within striking distance of the lead. Up front was the man who has been there from the start, France’s Mattieu Pavon, whose 16-under-par total gave him a two-stroke edge over Nathan Kimsey of England. Lombard shared third with three other players, Frenchmen Romain Langasque and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.
Lombard will be looking to continue the form he showed with his share of 10th in the Cazoo Open de France at the end of last month. That signalled a return to form after a run of six missed cuts from June to August. He is currently projected to rise to 42nd in the Race to Dubai, and that kind of showing would get him into the Nedbank Golf Challenge as well as the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Behind him, Thomas Aiken had a two-under-par 69 in the third round to move to eight-under for the tournament and a share of 26th. A further shot back was Wilco Nienaber, who had a 66 in the third round for a share of 34th heading into the final round. Nienaber shared that spot with Daniel van Tonder and Thriston Lawrence, who had 68 and 67 respectively to move to seven-under.
Louis de Jager was in a share of 46th on five-under after a second successive 69. Deon Germishuys slipped to a three-over 74 in the third round and was in a share of 58th on three-under.
