Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton produced a brilliant bogey-free 65 for the second consecutive day to surge into a five-shot lead after day three of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The Englishman entered round three in a share of the lead, and when he made a sixth birdie of the day on the fourth at Kingsbarns he had a six-shot advantage and looked set for a commanding cushion heading into the final day.
Frenchman Grégory Bourdy produced four birdies in a row on the front nine at Carnoustie to cut the gap to four, but a closing gain for Hatton moved him to 18-under and put him in a dominating position.
Bourdy signed for a 66 at next season’s Open Championship venue to sit two shots ahead of last week’s winner Paul Dunne, with former World No 1 Luke Donald and last year’s runner-up Ross Fisher eight shots off the lead.
Brandon Stone is the best-placed South African in T18 on -7 after he shot 71 at Kingsbarns. After Stone, Haydn Porteous and Jaco Ahlers are next best at -6. In total, 11 of the 19 South Africans that started the week continue on to Sunday, including Richard Sterne, who fired a stunning 65 to make the cut on the number. Cruelly, Thomas Aiken and Jacques Kruyswijk missed the cut by one.
Hatton made his European Tour breakthrough at this event last year as part of a stunning run of form that catapulted him to 14th in the official World Golf ranking.
He then made just two cuts in nine events from the Masters Tournament to the US PGA Championship, but has back-to-back top tens since and carried that recent form into his defence.
He made an excellent start with a birdie on the tenth and added further gains on the 12th and 14th before a stunning approach to the first moved him to 15-under. He did well to get up and down from a pot bunker for another birdie on the third, and when a big drive left him with a flick into the fourth, the lead was up to six.
Bourdy had birdied the tenth, 14th and 16th before dropping a shot on the next, but responded with those four birdies, highlighted by a monster putt on the sixth.
Hatton then played a deft chip into the par-five ninth for a closing gain.
‘Last year this event was a fantastic moment for me,’ said Hatton. ‘It’s great to be back and I’m enjoying my first defence.
‘Last year was a new experience for me going out leading a tournament, and I managed to do a really good job. Made myself very difficult to catch, hopefully I can do that again tomorrow.
‘I’ll certainly try my best to do that. That’s all anyone can ever do, is try their best and I’ll certainly do that.
‘To win at the home of golf once is incredible, but to do it again and defend would be a dream come true.’
