The Englishman, runner up at last month’s BMW PGA Championship, signed for a four under par third round of 67 at Real Club Valderrama, holing his eighth birdie of the day on the 18th to move three shots clear of compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick, aiming for his seventh European Tour victory, carded a one under par round of 70 as he took outright second place after the third round.
America’s David Lipsky recorded a tournament-low seven under par 64 to climb 42 places on the leaderboard up to third place. After starting his day with a bogey on the first hole, he was blemish-free through the next 17 as he matched Canter’s eight birdies.
Five players share fourth place on two under par, including Ryder Cup player Bernd Wiesberger and abrdn Scottish Open winner Min Woo Lee.
Player Quotes
Laurie Canter: “The golf course doesn’t give you loads. Although, as we all know, there’s opportunities to drop shots here. I think what it means is I can go out tomorrow and play how I have these last couple of days. The score I end up on will be competitive, I think. That gives me a lot of confidence going in. Having said that, we know what the course is like. The last five or six holes the wind came up from nowhere and the finishing holes are really tough. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that tomorrow. There’s a whole load of things that can change on the course.
“I don’t know how you can go for some of the pins. The way my caddie and myself go about it, we’re looking more at zones and channels on the greens. If you get a good number and the green is receptive you can have a bit of a dig. A lot of the time it’s playing to zones 15 or 20 feet, a lot of the time that’s a really good shot – giving yourself a chance with the putter. Then if you take advantage of the par fives they can potentially give you birdies.”
Matt Fitzpatrick: “Valderrama was a real test today. You had to be so patient. Early doors there wasn’t much wind and a chance to make some birdies, but I didn’t really do that. Then the wind picked up on the back nine and it was a case of sticking in there. I’m really pleased with the way I grinded it out and I’m happy with the one under.
“(Billy Foster) has been here so many times with so many different players. I said earlier in the week, the most important thing around here is patience. You can’t chase anything. You can’t just get driver out and try and be aggressive. You’ve got to be sensible and it’s more important to not drop shots than it is to make birdies.”
David Lipsky: “I’ve been hitting it pretty well all week, my putter was just really cold the first two days. I sent some videos to my putting coach last night, he gave me a few tips and I switched out my putter. I just needed to change something and apparently it worked.
“I’ve never done that before (changed equipment between rounds). I was terrible the last couple of days and I needed to do something. So I switched it up. I have a couple of putters I brought with me, I put the Scotty in play and today was great.
“I was fortunate. There wasn’t too much wind on my front nine, I took advantage of that. It was picking up on the back – totally opposite wind direction which made things difficult. You have to think about it a bit more. It’s still not as strong as it was on Thursday or Friday, so it was very playable.”
Scores after Round Three
206 L CANTER (ENG) 74 65 67,
209 M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 71 68 70,
210 D LIPSKY (USA) 71 75 64,
211 M LEE (AUS) 73 71 67, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 73 70 68, R PARATORE (ITA) 71 70 70, S SODERBERG (SWE) 70 69 72, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 69 69 73,
212 E MOLINARI (ITA) 75 71 66,
213 A BJ?RK (SWE) 72 71 70, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 73 70 70, S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP) 72 71 70, R ROCK (ENG) 72 68 73, J GUERRIER (FRA) 67 73 73, R FOX (NZL) 70 69 74,
214 M PAVON (FRA) 74 72 68, J MORRISON (ENG) 72 73 69, J HANSEN (DEN) 70 72 72, A CA?IZARES (ESP) 71 69 74, S JAMIESON (SCO) 72 68 74,
215 A MERONK (POL) 71 76 68, G COETZEE (RSA) 76 71 68, M KINHULT (SWE) 75 72 68, M LORENZO-VERA (FRA) 73 73 69, M SCHWAB (AUT) 74 71 70, J SMITH (ENG) 73 72 70, W BESSELING (NED) 70 74 71, T OLESEN (DEN) 72 72 71, A JOHNSTON (ENG) 70 73 72, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 71 72 72, D GAVINS (ENG) 71 72 72, A RAI (ENG) 72 71 72, R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 68 74 73, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 69 73 73, T PULKKANEN (FIN) 71 70 74,
216 J CATLIN (USA) 73 74 69, N ELVIRA (ESP) 72 74 70, D HORSEY (ENG) 73 72 71, M KAWAMURA (JPN) 73 72 71, C SHINKWIN (ENG) 74 71 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 72 72 72, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 72 71 73, N BERTASIO (ITA) 72 71 73,
217 D DRYSDALE (SCO) 76 71 70, A QUIROS (ESP) 73 73 71, G FDEZ-CASTA?O (ESP) 77 68 72, S V?LIM?KI (FIN) 72 72 73, J LUITEN (NED) 73 71 73, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 73 71 73,
218 P HANSON (SWE) 75 72 71, S TARRIO (ESP) 74 73 71, G GREEN (MAS) 74 73 71, L GAGLI (ITA) 74 72 72, J WINTHER (DEN) 74 70 74, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 73 68 77,
219 R MACINTYRE (SCO) 73 74 72, M KAYMER (GER) 74 73 72, M SOUTHGATE (ENG) 71 75 73,
220 J HARDING (RSA) 74 73 73, S KJELDSEN (DEN) 70 76 74, W NIENABER (RSA) 74 71 75,
221 M KIEFFER (GER) 74 73 74,
222 A OTAEGUI (ESP) 73 72 77,
223 A LEVY (FRA) 75 71 77, P WARING (ENG) 71 74 78,
224 J CALDWELL (NIR) 72 75 77, G FORREST (SCO) 74 71 79,
*
148 J DONALDSON (WAL) 78 70, J SURI (USA) 72 76, T PIETERS (BEL) 76 72, T BJ?RN (DEN) 75 73, O FISHER (ENG) 76 72, C SYME (SCO) 74 74, D LAW (SCO) 75 73, E PEPPERELL (ENG) 78 70, R MCEVOY (ENG) 76 72, R RAMSAY (SCO) 73 75, K REITAN (NOR) 74 74,
149 N H?JGAARD (DEN) 73 76, O WILSON (ENG) 73 76, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 75 74, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 72 77, E DE LA RIVA (ESP) 74 75, M WARREN (SCO) 75 74, S GALLACHER (SCO) 76 73, V PEREZ (FRA) 78 71, K SAMOOJA (FIN) 77 72, H LI (CHN) 72 77,
150 T DETRY (BEL) 72 78, A WU (CHN) 75 75, D HOWELL (ENG) 71 79, K BROBERG (SWE) 75 75, R BLAND (ENG) 75 75, C WOOD (ENG) 76 74, J SENIOR (ENG) 76 74,
151 R FISHER (ENG) 78 73, G BHULLAR (IND) 82 69, F LAPORTA (ITA) 77 74,
152 S BROWN (ENG) 78 74, S HEND (AUS) 78 74, J RAHM (ESP) 78 74, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 75 77,
153 A PAVAN (ITA) 78 75, J WALTERS (RSA) 79 74, M KORHONEN (FIN) 76 77, B HEBERT (FRA) 77 76, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 75 78, G STORM (ENG) 73 80, R MCGOWAN (ENG) 78 75, J BALLESTEROS (ESP) 79 74,
154 A ROZNER (FRA) 75 79, S CROCKER (USA) 74 80, J JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 77 77, S SHARMA (IND) 79 75,
155 L SHEPHERD (AM) (ENG) 76 79, M SIEM (GER) 77 78, C PAISLEY (ENG) 82 73, D VAN TONDER (RSA) 77 78,
156 G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 81 75, P ANGLES (ESP) 76 80,
157 A ARNAUS (ESP) 77 80, V DUBUISSON (FRA) 78 79,
158 J STALTER (FRA) 83 75,
163 M CAMPBELL (NZL) 80 83,
165 H PORTEOUS (RSA) 82 83,
