Barham in place for first tour title

Published on Saturday 19 September 2009 19:46

ENGLAND'S Benn Barham continued his excellent form in the third round of the Austrian Open to give himself a terrific chance of his first European Tour title.

The 33-year-old from Kent carded a four-under-par 67 to secure a three-shot lead going into the final round.

Barham, who had also topped the leaderboard after the first two rounds, wobbled on the seventh with a double bogey but recovered strongly and managed six birdies to take himself to a 17-under total.

Denmark's Soren Hansen is his closest rival three shots back with the 2007 tournament winner Richard Green, from Australia, a further stroke back in third.

Scotland's Scott Drummond, who teed off in third place, dropped out of contention with a disappointing round of 72, one over par, to leave himself back in joint seventh spot and eight shots off the pace.

A career-low round of seven-under 65 took Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa to the top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the Randstad Open de France Dames.

Pace carded eight birdies with four in a row from the par-four second and led by two from Germany's Anja Monke and Ireland's Rebecca Coakley, who shot 68 and 67 respectively.

The 28-year-old Pace said: "It is my best round. That's totally because of James Petts, my coach. In the last two years he's just transformed my swing and the way I think about golf, so all credit to him."

First-round leader Ursula Wikstrom carded a 71 to share fourth place with halfway leader Becky Brewerton of Wales, while Tania Elosegui's 64 was the lowest round of the day and good enough for a share of eighth place.

A sensational chip-in for an eagle three on the final hole kept Australian Peter Senior on course for his first European Senior Tour title in the Casa Serena Open in the Czech Republic.

The 50-year-old looked out of sorts for most of his second round but made amends with a spectacular finish. Two shots off the pace with two holes to go, the four-time European Tour champion fired a five iron to four feet for a birdie on the short 17th before chipping in from 50 yards on the 18th to regain the pole position he had held after his course record opening 64.