Mikko Korhonen produced another flawless performance to put himself firmly in control at the Shot Clock Masters where Justin Walters heads into Sunday in second place.
On a day when the first ever bad-time penalties were handed out on the European Tour, the Finn stayed bogey-free through 54 holes with a 68 that moved him to 13 under and handed him a five-shot lead over South Africa’s Justin Walters.
After no bad-time penalties were handed out on the first two days, Austrian Clemens Prader took four seconds over his allotted 50 to take a putt on the 16th, becoming the first man ever to be handed a bad-time penalty.
Scotland’s Grant Forrest and Italian Andrea Pavan later joined him as players to be docked a shot after running out of time.
Walters bogeyed the 3rd but he would then make 12 pars in a row as he failed to reduce the deficit. A putt finally dropped on the 16th to get back to level as he heads in Sunday five back.
‘I’m very excited, it’s the first time I’ve been in this position so I’m looking forward to it,’ said Korhonen.
‘I guess I’m just hitting fairways, hitting greens, making a few putts. That’s all really. I’ve felt good swinging and also putting. I have the pace pretty good on the greens.
‘I have a game plan which I’m going to follow. I’m not going to say anything more about it. I’ve been doing that for the past three days and I’ll keep doing it.’
Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
