29 August 2021: Sean Crocker shot an impressive six under par round of 64 to join Renato Paratore in a one shot lead going into the final day of the Omega European Masters. Shubhankar Sharma is just three shots back, after a brilliant 67 on Saturday. Three birdies and an eagle helped Shubhankar move up to T9 on a bunched leaderboard. There are fourteen golfers within three of each other going into a promising Sunday at Crans Montana.
A cooler day and swirling winds produced tougher scoring conditions, but American Crocker notched up the lowest score of the day, recovering from a bogey on the first to record six birdies, an eagle and a further bogey to get to ten under par.
“It was one of those rounds where I didn’t really know what was going on, it just kind of went that way. I bogied the first hole, got a bit aggressive and banged driver down two, had about 64 yards to the pin and had an easy birdie there. Kind of got the momentum going from there,” said Crocker.
“The first thing I saw (on the leaderboard) was on nine where I saw Dean (Burmester) on his first hole had dropped to nine or something. I didn’t really know what was going on, but it was kind of tough out there, wind swirling, I just had to play my own golf and stay away from the leaderboard.
“I’ll just play my game, whatever happens tomorrow it’s just one of those things. If I win, I don’t, it doesn’t matter to me, I just want to go play some golf.”
For Paratore, an unlikely birdie from the bunker on the 14th and a strong Italian presence at Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre inspired him to a battling one under par round of 69.
“Today I enjoyed it a lot, I made a lot of good saves and the crowd was also amazing. Over the last few holes I holed a bunker shot (on 14) and had some up and downs to finish with a good one under,” said Paratore.
“We play to enjoy it and to entertain the crowds, so it was good, there were lots of Italians and a good support. I didn’t play my best golf today, but in these tough conditions I managed to shoot one under, which for today was a really good score, normally maybe not that good. Like today, I will focus hole by hole, try to play the best I can, and enjoy all the crowds.”
Matthew Jordan looked to be heading into the final day in at least a share of the lead after kickstarting his round with an eagle on the stunning par four seventh hole, but a bogey-birdie-bogey finish left him one shot off the pace at nine under par, alongside fellow Englishman Ross McGowan and Spain’s Jorge Campillo.
Overnight leader Dean Burmester of South Africa, American John Catlin and Frenchman Adrien Saddier are a shot further back on eight under par.
Round Three Scores
200 S CROCKER (USA) 71 65 64, R PARATORE (ITA) 65 66 69,
201 M JORDAN (ENG) 67 65 69, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 68 64 69, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 68 64 69,
202 A SADDIER (FRA) 68 69 65, J CATLIN (USA) 68 65 69, D BURMESTER (RSA) 64 65 73,
203 S SHARMA (IND) 68 68 67, B HEBERT (FRA) 67 68 68, M SIEM (GER) 66 68 69, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 67 67 69, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 63 70 70, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 64 66 73,
204 N COLSAERTS (BEL) 65 74 65, P PETERSON (USA) 65 73 66, A LEVY (FRA) 69 68 67, R H?JGAARD (DEN) 68 66 70, J MORRISON (ENG) 60 74 70, T DETRY (BEL) 65 65 74,
205 M KAWAMURA (JPN) 67 71 67, C HILL (SCO) 68 70 67, N ELVIRA (ESP) 69 69 67, B MACPHERSON (AUS) 69 68 68, W BESSELING (NED) 71 66 68, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 63 73 69,
206 A MERONK (POL) 70 69 67, O WILSON (ENG) 70 69 67, M KINHULT (SWE) 70 68 68, R MCEVOY (ENG) 70 68 68, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 67 69, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 67 70 69, L SLATTERY (ENG) 70 67 69, D VAN TONDER (RSA) 66 70 70, M JIM?NEZ (ESP) 69 67 70, A BJ?RK (SWE) 67 69 70, H STENSON (SWE) 71 64 71, S JAMIESON (SCO) 67 67 72, J DONALDSON (WAL) 67 66 73, J HARDING (RSA) 66 66 74,
207 M KAYMER (GER) 68 69 70, D FICHARDT (RSA) 66 70 71, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 72 64 71, F MOLINARI (ITA) 72 64 71, M LEE (AUS) 66 67 74, S SODERBERG (SWE) 66 67 74,
208 J GUERRIER (FRA) 65 74 69, G GREEN (MAS) 74 65 69, M KORHONEN (FIN) 71 66 71, J GONNET (FRA) 67 70 71,
209 P BOVARI (AM) (ITA) 65 74 70, A CHESTERS (ENG) 67 71 71, J SURI (USA) 72 65 72, V PEREZ (FRA) 68 68 73, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 68 66 75,
210 A ROZNER (FRA) 69 70 71, R KARLBERG (SWE) 67 71 72, N BERTASIO (ITA) 69 69 72,
