Published July 17, 2008 on April 28, 2018

Hansen Edges Ahead in Turkey

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Joachim B Hansen will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Turkish Airlines Challenge but will have a fight on his hands if he is to claim a maiden European Challenge Tour title with seven players just one behind.

After thunderstorms yesterday afternoon disrupted play the second round concluded this morning, where England’s Nathan Kimsey rose to the top by signing for a second consecutive score of 66 to join Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli at the summit of the leaderboard.

Windier conditions made scoring more difficult this afternoon, but Sweden’s Simon Forsström was unfazed and carded seven birdies to sign for a third round of 66 – the joint low round of the day in Antalya.

With Kimsey and Gagli falling back it was Hansen who came through the pack. After carding five birdies in 11 holes the 27-year-old dropped shots at the 13^th, 14^th and 16^th but rallied with another gain at the 17^th to move one clear of Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, Italy’s Francesco Laporta, Sweden’s Oscar Lengden, Wales’s Stuart Manley, France’s Victor Riu, plus Forsström and Kimsey.

And with 18 holes left to play at Gloria Golf Club Hansen believes his good recent form – namely a runner-up finish in his last Challenge Tour tournament two weeks ago – will help him to get over the line tomorrow.

“I’ve played very solidly since last October,” he said. “Last year wasn’t a very good year for me golf-wise, it was very much up and down. I made some swing changes and some putting changes which are working very nicely.

“I’m quite happy with my round today. I played better today than I did on the first two days, tee to green, which was very nice. The bogeys I got on the back nine were silly ones, they shouldn’t have happened. Three under is a good score in this wind.

“I had a good drive on the 18^th and it gave me about 230 yards to the pin. I thought I’d hit a three iron up the right side of the green but I got too much draw on it and, unfortunately, it went in the water. I took a drop in the rough and hit a very good wedge shot which looked like it was going in, but it hit the pin nicely and somehow stayed out.

“I wanted to go out and do the same as I’d done on the first two days by being patient and hitting one shot at a time.

“I had a bit of a slow start and then the birdies finally came and I started moving up. I got some good birdies on nine, ten and 11 which helped me move a lot.

“I’ve got to control my nerves tomorrow and take it easy out there. Anyone can win tomorrow so I’m just going to go out, play the golf and see what happens.”

A total of 21 players are within three shots of the lead going into tomorrow’s final round – including both Gagli and Kim Koivu – the winners of the first two events on the 2018 Road to Ras Al Khaimah.

Round Three scores:

204 J Hansen (Den) 69 66 69,
205 V Riu (Fra) 71 64 70, O Lengden (Swe) 66 69 70, F Laporta (Ita) 67 67 71, N Kimsey (Eng) 66 66 73, E Ferguson (Sco) 66 71 68, S Manley (Wal) 67 70 68, S Forsström (Swe) 71 68 66,
206 S Heisele (Ger) 68 68 70, L Gagli (Ita) 66 66 74, J Singh Brar (Eng) 69 69 68, L Johnston (Sco) 72 64 70,
207 M Schmitt (Ger) 70 68 69, K Koivu (Fin) 66 69 72, M Nixon (Eng) 70 66 71, B Eccles (Aus) 71 68 68, S Walker (Eng) 67 71 69, S Webster (Eng) 68 70 69, J Geary (Nzl) 66 71 70, R Santos (Por) 67 70 70, N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 72 65 70,
208 T Linard (Fra) 68 71 69, T Murray (Eng) 70 67 71, M Kim (Kor) 70 64 74, D Foos (Ger) 67 72 69, N Geyger (Chi) 69 67 72, F Aguilar (Chi) 69 68 71, G Porteous (Eng) 67 73 68, A Leitmannstetter (Ger) 70 68 70, A Knappe (Ger) 67 69 72, A Michael (RSA) 70 69 69,
209 E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 68 70 71, A Karlsson (Swe) 74 66 69, B Hellgren (Swe) 69 71 69, T Lewis (Eng) 73 65 71, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 70 65 74, N Lemke (Swe) 68 71 70,
210 J Stalter (Fra) 71 68 71, S Khan (Eng) 69 70 71, M Ford (Eng) 70 67 73, G Stal (Fra) 68 72 70, D Stewart (Sco) 71 67 72, E Johansen (Nor) 70 69 71, S Tiley (Eng) 71 68 71, N Møller (Den) 68 72 70, A Meronk (Pol) 68 72 70,
211 J Huldahl (Den) 70 67 74, S Soderberg (Swe) 70 70 71, B Virto (Esp) 72 67 72, L Nemecz (Aut) 73 67 71, P Howard (Eng) 70 69 72, J Girrbach (Sui) 71 67 73, R Roussel (Fra) 69 68 74,
212 R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 70 70 72, E Goya (Arg) 68 72 72, E España (Fra) 68 69 75, R Macintyre (Sco) 66 68 78, P Mejow (Ger) 67 73 72, B Ritthammer (Ger) 73 66 73,
213 C Saxon (USA) 70 70 73, B Stow (Eng) 70 69 74,
214 M Madsen (Den) 69 70 75,
215 M Armitage (Eng) 72 67 76, T Santos Silva (Por) 74 66 75, R Finch (Eng) 70 67 78,
216 C Braeunig (Ger) 68 71 77, J Arnoy (Nor) 72 68 76,
217 F Maccario (Ita) 71 69 77,
141 A Rozner (Fra) 70 71 0, F Mruzek (Cze) 73 68 0, M Søgaard (Den) 71 70 0, M Pastor (Esp) 75 66 0, L Van Meijel (Ned) 70 71 0, M Salminen (Fin) 70 71 0, D Perrier (Fra) 70 71 0, O Stark (Swe) 71 70 0, K Samooja (Fin) 70 71 0, M Hoey (Nir) 71 70 0, D Boote (Wal) 72 69 0, S Dyson (Eng) 73 68 0, M Carlsson (Swe) 76 65 0, K Hesbois (Bel) 74 67 0, M Iten (Sui) 72 69 0,
142 J Quesne (Fra) 71 71 0, C Sharvin (Nir) 75 67 0, G Forrest (Sco) 71 71 0, P Figueiredo (Por) 73 69 0, L Cianchetti (Ita) 68 74 0, R Kellett (Sco) 76 66 0,
143 A Tadini (Ita) 72 71 0, R Davies (Wal) 70 73 0, R McGee (Irl) 69 74 0, S Matus (Cze) 75 68 0, A Altuntas (Tur) 72 71 0, R Saxton (Ned) 75 68 0,
144 J Doherty (Sco) 77 67 0, G Migliozzi (Ita) 72 72 0, K Johannessen (Nor) 73 71 0, J Lima (Por) 72 72 0, Ó Serna (Mex) 72 72 0, A Arnaus (Esp) 73 71 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 71 73 0, C Mivis (Bel) 68 76 0, S Henry (Sco) 72 72 0,
145 M Lundberg (Swe) 72 73 0, J Marin (Esp) 74 71 0, J Thomson (Eng) 75 70 0, D Løkke (Den) 73 72 0, E Di Nitto (Ita) 71 74 0, M Trappel (Aut) 74 71 0, J Caldwell (Nir) 72 73 0, G Hurley (Irl) 72 73 0, M Fenasse (Fra) 70 75 0, B Moore (Eng) 75 70 0, V Perez (Fra) 72 73 0, N Marsh (Eng) 71 74 0, M Gradecki (Pol) 70 75 0,
146 H Sayin (Tur) 75 71 0, O Lindell (Fin) 77 69 0, M Schneider (Ger) 74 72 0, Å Nilsson (Swe) 73 73 0, A Boasson (Isl) 75 71 0, C Doak (Sco) 72 74 0, M Penney (Eng) 72 74 0, S Grehan (Irl) 71 75 0, M Ovesen (Den) 75 71 0,
147 U Coussaud (Fra) 71 76 0, J Sjöholm (Swe) 76 71 0, J Freiburghaus (am) (Sui) 72 75 0,
148 A Ahokas (Fin) 74 74 0, M Orrin (Eng) 69 79 0, H Leon (Chi) 78 70 0, C Feldborg Nielsen (Swe) 76 72 0,
149 D Law (Sco) 76 73 0, J Ramos (Por) 78 71 0, J Cafourek (Cze) 76 73 0,
150 R Van West (Ned) 72 78 0, B Karatas (Tur) 75 75 0, M Lafeber (Ned) 78 72 0, P Valasek (Svk) 74 76 0, K McClatchie (RSA) 81 69 0, H Yamac (Tur) 74 76 0, A Telli (am) (Tur) 81 69 0,
151 S Hutsby (Eng) 76 75 0, P Maddy (Eng) 74 77 0,
152 L Acikalin (am) (Tur) 79 73 0,
153 D Berna Manzanares (Esp) 78 75 0, J Abbott (Eng) 74 79 0,
154 P Gal (Cze) 81 73 0,
156 T Yamac (am) (Tur) 85 71 0,
157 B Kara (Tur) 75 82 0,
159 P Dedek (Cze) 79 80 0,
160 H Esmer (am) (Tur) 77 83 0,
165 M Guner (am) (Tur) 83 82 0,
** J Senior (Eng) 69 DQ 0, D Senay (Tur) 81 DQ 0,