Saturday was not the moving day Conor Purcell was hoping for at the Austrian Alpine Open presented by SalzburgerLand. After a steady front nine of level par, Purcell’s hopes of moving up the leaderboard were dented by back to back double bogies that dropped the Portmarnock man back to a tie for 65th.
At the head of affairs, Marcel Schneider will go in search of his maiden DP World Tour title as he takes a one stroke lead into the final round of the Austrian Alpine Open presented by SalzburgerLand.
The German carded a second consecutive four under par round at Golf Club Gut Altenann, signing for a 15 under par total. After a slow start to his round, parring the first eight holes, Schneider caught a hot streak around the turn with four birdies in five holes from the ninth, parring his way home after the 13th for his round of 66.
The 35-year-old, a three-time winner on the HotelPlanner Tour, had never led after a round on the DP World Tour before this week, but has found himself at the top of the leaderboard after each day thus far at Golf Club Gut Altentann.
After his round Schneider said “Once again today I felt like I had a bit of a slow start. I had one chance on hole number three but I didn’t take that. I managed it around the greens and didn’t drop a shot, that was important early on. I stayed patient, waiting for the first birdie to drop on number nine, then after that everything went in my direction. I was hitting good irons, holed the putts. Overall, I’m happy. On the last I would have liked to two-putt and take the birdie, but it is what it is.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’ve got the opportunity to stay there on Sunday as a winner, but once again it’s a long journey. We play 18 holes and anything can happen. I’ve been in the game long enough, let’s see.”
Schneider is just ahead of compatriot Nicolai von Dellingshausen, who is also hunting his first win on the DP World Tour after carding a five under par third round 65, which included an eagle on the last to move to within one stroke on 14 under.
“It was really solid golf, I’d say cruise control the first ten and a half holes.” said von Dellingshausen. “I had an energy dip, the focus wasn’t there 11, 12 and 13. I had to battle through a little more. But I got back nicely from 14-15 onwards and it was nice to finish with an eagle.
“It’s what we practice for. I’m looking forward to it. We practiced it today already, I’m looking forward to playing with him again. It’s nice for the Germans out there watching. But I’m happy to play with him again. We had a lot of fun out there and we were hyping each other up when things were going well. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Denmark’s Jeff Winther raced up the leaderboard after carding a bogey-free eight under par 62 to move into solo third on 13 under. One stroke further back is Englishman Callum Tarren on 12 under after his third round of 66.
Sharing fifth are South Africa’s Jayden Schaper, who carded a three under 67, and Sweden’s Sebastian Söderberg, who matched Winther’s eight under par 62.