JC Ritchie shares a two-stroke lead with Robin Petersson heading into the final round of the Italian Challenge Open, as he closes in on securing a third win of the season and automatic promotion to the DP World Tour.
Ritchie, who led by one shot overnight, carded a four under par round of 68 on day three, with Petersson’s six under 66 seeing both players move to 16 under par for the week, two clear of Englishman Steven Brown who occupies solo third.
South African Ritchie, who triumphed at the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos last week to pick up his second win of the season, is excited by the prospect of completing the perfect season tomorrow at Golf Nazionale.
“It’s the ultimate goal to win three times,” he said. “To achieve that would be the biggest dream come true. It’s been on my mind for a while.
“For a couple of years, I’ve always felt like I’ve been capable of achieving it, but this is the first year I’ve felt like my game is in the position to try and backup that sort of statement.
“Tomorrow’s going to be fun. I’m going to enjoy it, I’ve got nothing to lose, and my game has been solid, so I’ll go at it.
“It’s going to take a lot of discipline. Hopefully the conditions stay tough, and I think you’re going to get rewarded if you hit good shots and punished if you hit bad ones.”
Petersson will go in search of a maiden HotelPlanner Tour win tomorrow after firing five birdies, a hole-out eagle and a bogey to join Ritchie at the summit.
The Swede currently sits 74th in the season-long Road to Mallorca Rankings, and with the leading 68 available players in the Rankings heading to China for back-to-back events next month, is hoping another good day tomorrow could alter the course of his season.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve felt like I’ve struggled a bit off the tee, but I’ve found something this week,” he said.
“It’s been a long season, I’ve had a few good finishes, and I know you’re not going to play well in every event, but it would be awesome to top it all off with a victory.
“I’m not sure I should think along those ways, but it would be awesome. I’m just looking forward to coming out tomorrow and we’ll see where I’m at.
“It’s kind of the last regular season event this week, and I knew I just needed to make the cut here. Having done that feels amazing. I still have one more day to play, but it looks very good for me to keep my card for next year.
“Maybe with a good finish tomorrow I can even contend for a DP World Tour card at the end of the year.”
Dutchman Lars van der Vight shares fourth place on 13 under par alongside Rocco Repetto Taylor from Spain and Swede Christofer Rahm, with four players one shot further back in seventh, including leading Italian Lorenzo Scalise.
The final round of the Italian Challenge Open gets under way tomorrow at 7:40am local time, with Ritchie and Petersson teeing off alongside Brown at 11:30am.
