Matt Wallace maintained his stranglehold on the Omega European Masters with a four-shot lead despite testing conditions in the Swiss Alps.
The Englishman was sitting pretty at the top by the same margin at the halfway point and headed into the weekend as the only player not to drop a shot through 36 holes.
He started moving day at 14 under, but high winds affected the whole field and it only took him two holes to card his first bogey of the tournament.
Wallace battled through the tough conditions to register a third-round of 73, mixing six bogeys with three birdies to sit at 11 under at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
Alfredo Garcia-Heredia sat in second at seven under after an impressive 71 which saw him card four birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey.
England’s Andrew Johnston and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander were one shot further back at six under, while Fitzpatrick, home favourite Cedric Gugler, Australian Jason Scrivener and Edoardo Molinari, who was one of only three players to record under par rounds, are at five under.
Jonas Blixt carded the round of the day with a 68 to climb to four under, alongside fellow Swede Sebastian Söderberg, who registered also carded a 69 like Molinari, Spain’s Nacho Elvira, South African Casey Jarvis, Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen and 2021 champion Rasmus Højgaard.
“Where do I start? Brutal, really hard. Felt I hit the ball just as good, in the right areas – they were the wrong areas by the looks of it,” Wallace said.
“Like 17, potentially impossible? I remember saying to Jamie [Lang, caddie], ‘maybe land it short?’. But you don’t think like that, we are unbelievable golfers in hindsight, but what a great up-and-down I must say. I didn’t think I would get that up-and-down.
“The other day I was saying it was cold and windy, but that was crazy, that was mental. The greens were fantastic but just really fast as well. Man, that was tough, Jamie and I are very tired now.
“Today wasn’t about really shooting under par, it was about keeping my lead and I did that and I will try and take the ego out of the three over, which I’m not happy about those type of scores but I probably left two or three shots out there which would have been an unbelievable score.”
Wallace extended his run without a blemish to 37 holes after an opening par, however his streak came to an end when he missed a par putt from nine feet at the 2nd to slide back to 13 under.
Garcia-Heredia became his closest rival at 10 under after a brilliant 23 foot birdie at the 1st and picked up another shot at the 3rd from 13 feet.
The Spaniard dropped a shot at the 4th, but the leader followed suit as the gap remained at three shots. Garcia-Heredia did cut the deficit to two with a gain at the 6th, only to double-bogey the 7th and bogey the 8th.
Jordan Smith, who bogeyed the 2nd, had reached 10 under after back-to-back birdies from the 5th and when Wallace dropped his third shot of the day at the 8th, his lead was trimmed to one.
Wallace responded with a nerve-calming birdie putt from 24 feet to reach the turn with a two-shot advantage, which briefly improved to three when Smith bogeyed the 10th before the leader dropped another shot at the same hole.
The lead was extended to three shots after Smith found water with his second shot for a double-bogey at the 12th, with Alex Fitzpatrick and Johnston now the closest challengers at eight under par.
Pars were valuable for Wallace as playing partner Fitzpatrick also carded a six on the par-four 12th and Johnston bogeyed the hole ahead to increase his lead to four shots.
Garcia-Heredia, Johnston and Smith jumped up to eight under with birdies at the 14th, but the leader maintained the four-stroke initiative with one of his own at the same hole.
Johnston and Garcia-Heredia dropped back with bogeys at the 15th and Wallace’s lead was cut to three once more with his fifth dropped shot of the day at the 15th.
Smith slipped out of contention following a bogey-double bogey-bogey finish, while Garcia-Heredia was in the clubhouse at seven under on his own in second after three straight pars to conclude his round.
At the 17th hole, Wallace thinned his third shot through the green and into the bunker, which he did well to come away with a bogey to drop back to 10 under.
Wallace replied with arguably his best shot of the third round when sticking his approach to five feet and when he rolled in the birdie putt, he took a four-shot lead into the final round.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
