An incredible 80-footer for eagle on the 17th on Friday saw Dean Burmester go into the final round of the European Tour’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett at the Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England in a share of second place.
In truth, it took a long-range birdie putt on 18 for Eddie Pepperell to break clear of a pack of six other players on eight-under to take the sole lead at 10-under, one clear of Burmester, Edoardo Molinari of Italy, Adrian Meronk of Poland, Italian Guido Migliozzi, and Calum Hill and Robert Macintyre of Scotland.
Burmester holed from 80 feet on the 17th in a birdie-eagle-birdie finish as he carded a 65 after starting with a bogey, while Meronk holed two putts of over 50 feet for eagles on the third and 17th as he recorded the same score.
Burmester recovered quickly from his opening hole, putting that bogey behind him with a pair of birdies on three and four, and another on nine to turn in two-under 34. He gained another shot on par on the 12th, and then came his final flourish.
It was once again his length of the tee which set him up for the possibility of a second title in the space of just three weeks. He averaged 311 yards in the third round to top the rankings for the field which averaged just 281 yards.
Justin Harding kept himself in contention, carding a third round of two-under 70 after making two bogeys and two birdies in his opening nine, but picking up two more birdies down the stretch on 15 and 17 to leave himself in a share of eighth, two off the lead.
Louis de Jager also carded a two-under 70 on Friday to move to six-under for the tournament, and not out of things at four off the pace.
