Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey stamped his authority on the European Challenge Tour’s Texbond Open with a brilliant third round of seven under par 65 to move into a three shot lead over Scotsman Marc Warren and Sweden’s Fredrik Widmark with 18 holes to play at Garda Golf.
Hoey began the day in a in a tie for second place, but quickly charged into the lead after a scintillating birdie-par-eagle-par-eagle start to his third round. The 26 year old from Belfast notched a further two birdies and two bogeys to get to the turn in 31 before putting together a back nine of 34 to move into a three stroke lead from Warren and Widmark going into the final round.
Warren also made a significant move during round three, posting a six under 66 to move from seven to 13 under, while Widmark compiled a 68 to ensure he would play alongside the Celtic duo in the last match of Saturday’s final round.
England’s Benn Barham is one behind the second placed pair on 12 under after a third round 70, with 2002 Challenge Tour Number One Lee James of England sharing fifth place with Finland’s Toni Karjalainen after respective third round scores of 67 and 70.
Hoey is currently 15th on the Challenge Tour Rankings thanks to some excellent performances on the 2005 Schedule.
The Northern Irishman finished second in the TIM Peru Open, third in the Panasonic Panama Open and fifth in the Costa Rica Open 2005 American Express presented by BETonSPORTS.com, but is hoping to top all of those results by securing a maiden professional victory come Saturday afternoon.
“It would be nice to get the first victory,” said Hoey after signing for 65. “It’s something I don’t like to think too much about because I have got ahead of myself before and ended up missing out.
“That happened to me in Costa Rica earlier in the season when I was leading going into the final round but then I started thinking about winning and the money and everything else that comes with it and I kind of lost my focus on the course.
“So I will just go out and play my game tomorrow and hopefully be good enough to win it. My game’s in pretty good shape and I am putting well enough. Obviously I played pretty well today but I have to say that I got the breaks at the right times which is massive.
“I got off to a great start today – five under after five holes – and when you do that you are always looking to go very low but I would have taken a 65 at the start of the day so I am pretty happy with that.
“As I said, I will just go with the old one shot at a time mentality tomorrow and hope it’s good enough. My caddie, Ryan McGuigan, has been great for keeping me in the present this week so I will be relying on him again tomorrow.”
