Dale Whitnell remains in the box seat to claim a maiden DP World Tour title at the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed after a roller-coaster day three at Ullna Golf and Country Club.
The Englishman entered the weekend with a six-shot lead and after seven holes had stretched that to eight despite low scores from some of the early starters.
A pair of double-bogeys halted his momentum, however, and he ended the day at 19 under with a four-shot advantage over Germany’s Yannik Paul.
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay was then at 13 under, one shot clear of Dutchwoman Anne van Dam, who carded a stunning 63 to lead the female charge at the event which has seen 78 men and 78 women play the same course for one trophy and one prize fund.
South Africa’s Louis de Jager is nine under (T13) after a third-round 65 that included seven birdies, with countryman Justin Walters a further shot behind after carding 71.
While Whitnell’s lead may have been trimmed, the 34-year-old remains in a strong position to get over the line for the first time, having already recorded a career-best three top 10s so far in 2023.
It is Whitnell’s first 54-hole lead on the DP World Tour but he is a winner on the European Challenge Tour and was keeping a cool head ahead of the biggest round of his career to date.
“I had couple of instances where it didn’t go to plan but I thought I kept my head and just tried to plug away and take it one shot at a time,” he said after carding a 70.
“It’s hard to go through one round of golf without dropping a shot, never mind, two, three or four, so I just stuck to my guns and had a game plan and tried to execute it. It wasn’t a bad day, it wasn’t exactly ideal but it was more than acceptable.
“Yannik played great and hit some good shots under pressure. He started off with a nice eagle down the 4th and from there we sort of mixed and matched birdies but I just kept my head and it was nice to follow him in at the last.”
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
