Jordan Smith leads heading into the final round of the BMW International Open with South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout two back.
The Englishman starts Sunday with a one-shot lead as he looks to turn his consistent play into a first win on the 2019 Race to Dubai. His sixth bogey-free round of the season (66) moved him to -13 but he had an elite chasing pack behind him at Golfclub München Eichenried.
England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick – with five wins in his four seasons on the European Tour – and Austrian Matthias Schwab both carded rounds of 65 to sit one back, a shot clear of defending champion Matt Wallace and Bezuidenhout.
Erik van Rooyen and Haydn Porteous matched each other’s 71s to sit at -5 and in 24th place.
Smith made his first ten cuts of the season with three top tens in his last four events of that run and, while he failed to make the weekend for the first time in 2019 last time out in at the Made in Denmark presented by FREJA, he has bounced back with 35 bogey-free holes.
He will now go in search of a second European Tour win and a second victory in Germany after his triumph at the 2017 European Open.
Bezuidenhout birdied the second from 12 feet but gave the shot straight back on the next and Smith joined him at nine under as he put his tee shot to ten feet on the first and holed from the fringe on the third.
Smith then got into double figures with two putts from just off the green at the par-five sixth.
Schwab turned in 32 with birdies on the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth and a bogey on the fourth to sit at nine under, one clear of playing partner Fitzpatrick.
The reigning Omega European Masters champion turned in 33 with birdies on the third, fifth and ninth.
Bezuidenhout got on the green in two for a birdie at the sixth and a share of the lead but dropped back as he went a long way right off the seventh tee.
Schwab then took advantage of the par-five 11th to join the lead but that could not keep pace with Smith, who left himself a tap-in for birdie at the par-five ninth to turn in 32 and hit the front on his own at 11 under.
Schwab holed a long putt at the 13th for a seventh birdie of the day, while Fitzpatrick birdied the par-five 11th and put his tee shot to five feet at the 12th to bounce back from a bogey on the tenth.
Bezuidenhout took advantage of the par-five ninth and got up and down at the 11th to make it a three-way tie at the top but Schwab got up and down after driving over the par-four 16th and Smith holed a 12-footer on the 13th to edge back ahead.
A stunning approach from Smith on the 15th handed him top spot on his own once more but that was only once clear of Fitzpatrick who produced a big finish, holing a 15-footer at the 15th, taking advantage of the driveable next and holing a long putt on the last.
Overnight leader Martin Kaymer dropped into a share of 11th after a 75 on a day that yielded just a single birdie.
Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
