Scotand’s Connor Syme knows he needs to continue his birdie blitz if he’s to secure a maiden Tour win at the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.
Syme, 25, capped his third day’s play holing his second shot for an eagle ‘2’ at the par-4 10th and then birdied his next three in a blistering eight-under par 62 on the Meloneras course.
It left him sharing second place on 16-under par with Frenchman Mattieu Pavon (64) and Austrian Matthias Schwab (66) and with the trio two shots adrift of South African lefty Garrick Higgo, who has posted scores of 65, 64 and 63 to lead at 18-under par.
All up there are now 14 players within four shots of the lead including China’s Ashun Wu, and at 14-under, who became the fourth place to match the course record with a 61.
Syme began the event with a one-over par-71 and then on day two was among three players to share a new course record of 61 before Syme faced an eagle putt on the last on day three to match his career low of 61 of a day earlier. The resultant birdie was his 14th birdie in two days while he’s also bagged two eagles and dropped just one shot over his past 36-holes.
He said: “I’m really delighted to back yesterday’s 61 with a 62 as I have been playing very well of late.
“Then to back it up today with another low score was amazing so I’m very happy”.
Twice last year, the Scot went agonisingly close to a first win in firstly leading into the last day of the Celtic Classic only to finish third while a week later at the Wales Open he shared the third round lead on route to ending in a tie for eighth.
Now in a 67th Tour event the Scot would dearly love to break his victory drought on the Atlantic holiday island.
He said: “The goal now with a round to play is to continue going low as I have these last two days.
“I was chatting yesterday with my caddy and to be eight-under after two rounds was okay considering but it was one extreme to the other in terms of my scores.
“I guess the golf ball doesn’t know how much you are under par on a given day and to be 16-under at the moment, I am obviously in a good position and it gives me a chance tomorrow”.
Richie Ramsay added a 66 to be the next best Scot at 11-under and one clear of Calum Hill (66) and Scott Jamieson (68)
