Deon Germishuys signed for a five-under-par 67 on Saturday to set himself up for a shot at winning the Challenge Tour’s Hopps Open de Provence in France.
Germishuys started slowly with a bogey on the first hole, and, although he made birdie on the third, he dropped another shot on the fourth. He bided his time with a string of pars until the ninth, where me made an eagle-three to gain momentum heading into the homeward nine. He picked up four birdies without dropping another shot, and, in the process, climbed four places on the leaderboard into a share of second.
Leading the tournament was Swedish veteran Joel Sjoholm, who carved his way through the field with a seven-under-par 65 to move to 12-under-par. That was two strokes ahead of Germishuys, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier and another South African, Bryce Easton.
Easton made an eagle, three birdies and a bogey on his way to a five-under-par 67, and, with the other two in second, was one stroke clear of the English trio of Nathan Kimsey, Daniel Brown and Bailey Gill on nine-under-par.
JC Ritchie had a one-over-par 73 in the third round, and he was on three-over for the tournament in a share of 68th.
