• Guerrier leads Italian Open, Saffa shares fourth

    Julien Guerrier Italian Open 6 May 2023
    Julien Guerrier
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    Julien Guerrier will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the DS Automobiles Italian Open.

    The 37-year-old Frenchman started the day two shots off the lead but carded eight birdies and three bogeys in a third-round 66 to lead the way on 12 under par.

    His countryman Romain Langasque was in a tie for second alongside Poland’s Adrian Meronk after the Frenchman fired a flawless 62 to set a new course record at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.

    The highlight of Langasque’s record-breaking round came at the par-four 16th, as he drove the green before slotting in his 21-foot putt for an eagle.

    Meronk, meanwhile, picked up six birdies in his 66 on Moving Day, with his only blemish a bogey on the 15th.

    South Africa’s Daniel van Tonder, Marcel Siem, Matthieu Pavon and Tapio Pulkkanen shared fourth place on eight under.

    Van Tonder’s third-round 67 included an eagle on the 16th, four birdies and two bogies.

    Guerrier bounced back from an early bogey at the 2nd with birdies from inside six feet on the 5th and 7th to make it a five-way tie for the lead on eight under.

    After dropping another shot on the 8th, Guerrier rolled in from eight feet at the 9th for a bounce-back birdie.

    Two tremendous approach shots at the 10th and 11th saw Guerrier complete a birdie hat-trick, before a monster birdie putt from around 45 feet on the 14th earned him a share of the lead.

    He then found himself alone at the top after converting his six-foot birdie effort at the 15th but would give the shot straight back on the 16th.

    But Guerrier regained the outright lead with a closing birdie as he got up and down from a greenside bunker to move to 12 under.

    “I started with a bogey on 2 and after that I stayed patient,” Guerrier said. “I know with this kind of course, my coach said, ‘You are going to play some good shots, so try to manage and don’t give too many shots away to the course’, and I did that. 

    “I tried to stay patient and to do my job on every shot, and you know, it is difficult on every hole so anything can happen.

    “Of course we will speak [with friend Langasque] and I hope we are going to have a good game.”

    – Edited report from DP World Tour website

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