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Home hope Grant takes two-shot lead into final round
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Home hope Grant takes two-shot lead into final round

Local favourite Linn Grant will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed as she bids to become the DP World Tour's first female winner.

Grant

The 22-year-old Swede fired a flawless 66, which included a tremendous eagle from 75 feet on the 11th and four birdies, to get to 16 under par and overtake halfway leader Jason Scrivener at the top.

Australian Scrivener had led for most of the day and found himself three shots clear at the turn, but he missed good chances to extend his advantage and a double bogey at the short 16th saw him fall from the summit.

A closing birdie handed Scrivener solo second spot on 14 under, while home hero and tournament co-host Henrik Stenson was alone in third another shot further back.

Grant only entered the paid ranks last year but is already a proven winner, having followed up her maiden Ladies European Tour victory at the Joburg Ladies Open in March with a second title at the Mithra Belgian Ladies Open two weeks ago.

She began the day two shots off the lead and pulled off a good par save at the first to remain at ten under.

Her first birdie of the day came at the third, courtesy of a well-controlled pitch out of the rough which set up a five-foot putt.

Grant made it back-to-back birdies at the short fourth, holing from eight feet to jump to 12 under.

After a run of six straight pars, Grant produced a shot-of-the-day contender at the par-five 11th, rolling in from 75 feet for a brilliant eagle to get within one shot of the lead.

After coming agonisingly close to making another birdie at the 13th, Grant also had to settle for a par on the 14th despite a remarkable bunker shot giving her a good birdie chance.

A birdie from 11 feet on the 15th handed Grant a share of the lead and even though she could only manage pars at the 16th and 17th, she found herself alone at the top of the leaderboard due to Scrivener's double bogey.

And Grant finished with a birdie from inside five feet at the 18th to lead by two on 16 under par.

As the only woman in the top 15, Grant is flying the flag for the Ladies European Tour, and she is hoping to finish the job on Sunday.

She said: "A very solid day again. I really found my swing yesterday on the range, and this morning was a good warm-up, a bit stressed, but that is pretty much a good thing to me. 

"I got out there and hit good drives, I think I hit pretty much every fairway, on the greens and solid putting. 

“I think I practised throughout all my years playing as an amateur being in the same situation of being nervous and knowing how to handle that and get the best out of myself.

“I think it is fun, I am here to do my golf and I hope that takes me all the way and if it does, then I’ll take it for the women. 

“I hope that people realise that we’re actually getting there, getting close to the guys and having the same journey the men have had for the last 30 or 40 years. 

"To really just put women’s golf on the map a little bit more than it is at the moment, we can hit it far enough and close to the pin and hole some putts and do good scoring.”

Scrivener, who is bidding to claim his first DP World Tour title after securing 24 top-ten finishes so far, was pleased with his third-round 70 and is looking forward to Sunday.

He said: "It was looking like a pretty good round up until the 13th or 14th really, I played nicely and then was a bit scrappy coming in, but all in all pretty happy with it.

"I can’t wait. It is a great opportunity tomorrow to win a tournament and to be in the final group is always nice as well."

Stenson got off to a lightning-quick start, reeling off birdies at the first, second and third before picking up further shots at the fifth and eighth.

Bogeys at the 11th and 14th - the back nine's two par fives - stalled his momentum but he got the shots back with crowd-pleasing birdie putts at the 16th and 18th to sign for a 67 and remain in the hunt.

When asked what a victory on home soil would mean to him, Stenson said: "It would be sweet, so I better stay away from making six on the par fives, right!

"But I feel like I got myself back in the ball game at least with those late birdies, and I felt like it would have been a shame to finish with anything worse than five under today given that start.

"So we have work to do tomorrow, we certainly have some ground to make up and I would love to win in Sweden, but I really have to do my part tomorrow."

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