Argentina’s Sebastian Fernandez recaptured the form that made him the 2003 Costa Rica Open Champion with a stunning third round 66 to surge to the top of leaderboard at the Cariari Country Club, where he joins fellow Challenge Tour Member Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland on one under par 212 as the Costa Rica Open heads for a thrilling climax.
Fernandez’s 66, the best round of the tournament so far and equal to the course record of Ray Floyd of the USA at Cariari, included a eagle two at the par four third hole, as well as five birdies, two dropped shots and ten pars as he found the form that took him top a play-off victory over his fellow countryman, Cesar Monasterio, at Cariari two years ago.
That victory laid the foundations for Fernandez’s ninth place finish on the 2003 Challenge Tour Rankings, which ensured the 31 year old from Buenos Aires joined The European Tour in 2004. Now he is looking for a repeat performance as he seeks to return to The Tour via the 2005 Challenge Tour Rankings.
Fernandez said: “From the tenth on, I played almost perfect golf today. I hit all the greens and left the ball close. I even lost two good chances on the 16th and 17th from six-feet. I’m happy because I played really well, and, besides playing good, you cannot get angry, and that is very difficult to do here at this course because it is a struggle all the time.”
Hoey is simply loving life in Latin America at this, the fourth joint sanctioned event of the 2005 Challenge Tour season with the Tour de las Americas. The 25 year old, who registered third and second place finishes at the Panasonic Panama Open and the TIM Peru Open before Christmas, posted a one over par 72 for round three and remain in the hunt for what would be his maiden Challenge Tour victory.
“It was a bit of a strange day for me really,” said Hoey. “I missed a couple of short putts. The grain in the green seemed to take the ball away but I suppose I did quite well, because it was very windy.”
Kyle Dobbs of the USA is in third place after a third round 73 handed him a three round aggregate of level par 213, with Mathew Abbot of the USA (70), the Argentine duo of Miguel Carballo (69) and Rodolfo Gonzalez (71), and Jean Baptiste Gonnet of France (71) a further shot back.
Dobbs said: “Every time I hit a putt, my caddie just started shaking his head. I didn’t make any putts today. So that’s just the way it goes."
