• Saint Omer Open, Round Three

Zions holds nerve to take three-shot lead

Matthew Zions was unaffected by the conditions as he fired an impressive 67 © Getty Images

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Leaderboard

Australia's Matthew Zions will go into the final round of the Saint Omer Open with a three-shot lead, after making the most of testing conditions on Saturday.

Starting his day three shots behind overnight leaders Craig Lee and Andrea Perrino, Zions made little forward progress on the front nine - opening with five successive pars before alternating between bogeys and birdies to reach the turn level for the day.

But he kicked off the inward nine with three successive birdies to surge up the leaderboard, before responding to a sloppy bogey on the 16th with two more red numbers over the final two holes of the Saint Omer course to set an imposing clubhouse target of six-under.

That target proved too much for Lee and Perrino, who carded disappointing rounds of 74 and 75 respectively as the miserable weather conditions and pressure of leading the tournament took a toll on them.

Nevertheless, at one-under and level par respectively neither man is out of contention completely.

Three men are within three shots of Zions, however, with England's Daniel Denison the pick of the bunch after he matched the leader's round of 67 to remain in touch.

First round leader George Coetzee is also not far adrift after a one-over round of 72, while Italian Federico Colombo looked set to be Zions' closest challenger until two back nine bogeys dropped him off the pace slightly.

Just nine players are under-par after 54 holes, indicating the testing nature of conditions at Lumbres, but with 25 players within seven shots of Zions the stage is set for a fascinating final round.

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