Golf - Andalucian Open:There was little to write home about from an Irish standpoint on day three of the €1million Andalucian Open in Malaga where Paul McGinley dropped off the pace and South African Louis Oosthuizen grabbed the outright lead to give himself another chance to earn a place at the Masters.
McGinley may be enjoying a return to form after a five month lay-off since a sixth operation on his troublesome knee, but today proved to be hard work compared to the opening two days when he shot 68, 66.
The 43-year-old leaked three shots on the front nine with bogeys at the fourth, seventh and ninth to turn in 37.
Birdies finally arrived at the 12th and 14th but they were cancelled by further bogeys at 13 and 15. The day ended on a sour note with a bogey at 18 to leave the 2002 Ryder Cup hero signing for a 74 and drop back to two under for the tournament.
Gareth Maybin's two under 68 moved him up to five under, and at tied 23rd, he was the leading Irishman in the field.
Michael Hoey remained static on two under after a 70, while Simon Thornton was unchanged on one under after he too shot 70.
Darren Clarke dropped back to level after a 72, one better than Peter Lawrie (71).
Shane Lowry lost ground with his 74 to be three over, two better than Gary Murphy (75).
Oosthuizen has not only given himself another chance to win his first European Tour title and the €166,660 winner’s cheque, but he also has a chance of making it to Augusta in two weeks’ time.
Runner-up to Welshman Rhys Davies in Morocco last week after leading by three with 15 holes to play, Oosthuizen takes a one-shot advantage over England’s Robert Coles into the final day at the Parador course.
Only a victory will probably do for the 27-year-old in his bid for a second successive trip to Augusta and a four under par 66 kept him on course.
Oosthuizen, four times second on the circuit but five times a winner in his home country, now stands 14 under and said: “My putting has not let me down, but I’m not happy with how I hit a few irons shots.
“It’s a low-scoring course, but the thing is you can try and attack it too much and make stupid bogeys. I made a few today.”
Coles was the biggest mover of the day as a seven under 63 moved him to within one shot of the lead.
The 37-year-old has been on and off the Tour since his debut in 1995, making 10 trips to the Qualifying School and never finishing higher than third in an event.
Engand’s Sam Hutsby, joint overnight leader with Oosthuizen at the start of the day, dropped back to joint fifth on 10 under with a level par 70.
Collated third round scores and totals in the €1million Andalucian Open at Parador de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in boldpar 70):
196Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 63 66
197Robert Coles 69 65 63
198Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 69 64 65
199Richard Finch 68 65 66
200Sam Hutsby 67 63 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 65 67, Peter Whiteford 69 64 67
201Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 67 69, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 68 65, Paul Lawrie 65 68 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 66 67
202Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 66 65, Gary Orr 68 68 66, Stephen Gallacher 67 70 65, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70 63
203Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69 68, Jamie Donaldson 67 69 67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70 65
204Mark Brown (Nzl) 66 68 70, James Morrison 71 63 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 64 68
205Richard Bland 68 68 69, Steve Webster 71 66 68, John Parry 68 69 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68 67 70, Paul Waring 74 62 69, Gareth Maybin 70 67 68, David Howell 69 69 67, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 69 68 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 65 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 68 69
206Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 68 68 70, Stephen Dodd 73 66 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 66 69 71, David Lynn 67 70 69, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 67 68
207Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 66 71 70, David Drysdale 71 68 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 64 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 66 73 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 69 68, Bradley Dredge 66 70 71
208Gary Lockerbie 69 67 72, Dale Whitnell 68 70 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 68 71, Paul McGinley 68 66 74, Michael Hoey 69 69 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 67 68, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 68
209Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69 71, Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 67 72, Richie Ramsay 73 67 69, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 70 68 71, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 67 70, Simon Thornton 69 70 70
210Marc Warren 71 68 71, Phillip Archer 66 74 70, Alastair Forsyth 71 69 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 71 72, Darren Clarke 70 68 72
211Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 69 72, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 72 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 68 72, Phillip Price 72 68 71, Danny Willett 74 66 71, Peter Lawrie 68 72 71
212Jamie Elson 70 68 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 69 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69 72
213Anthony Wall 68 69 76, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 71 75, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 71 73, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69 73, Shane Lowry 72 67 74, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 71 67 75, Barry Lane 70 70 73
214Nick Dougherty 72 68 74
215Andrew Tampion (Aus) 70 70 75, Gary Murphy 69 71 75,Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 68 76
216Robert Rock 69 71 76
217Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 69 77