Otto takes four-stroke lead
2008-05-10 18:58
Milan - South African Hennie Otto birdied the last three holes to snare a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the Italian Open on Saturday.
Otto carded a nine-under-par 63 to end the round with a
22-under-par tally on the Castello di Tolcinasco course.
The Boksburg-born Otto began the third day trailing two
strokes behind Sweden's Robert Karlsson and soon found himself three adrift when Karlsson eagled the first hole with Otto
managing a birdie.
But after both players bogeyed the second and Karlsson then
also bogeyed the third, Otto went into lead with three birdies
in succession from the third hole.
Otto then distanced himself from the seven-times European
Tour-winning Karlsson with five inward birdies capped by sinking
a 30-foot birdie putt at the last.
"I made a few more putts today and hit them much closer and that's why I finished a lot more under par," said Otto.
'Another day'
Otto has tasted success on the Southern Africa Tour but is
still looking for a first European Tour victory. He will also
now be out to make amends for losing in a playoff to Scotland's Alastair Forsyth in March's Madeira Islands Open.
"I am not going to be thinking about what happened in
Maderia and I will just take it as another day and whoever
played the best tomorrow will win," added Otto.
"I am leading by four shots so all I will be doing is
playing my own game."
Karlsson set a new Milan course record with his 11-under
par 61 on Friday but failed to tap into that dominating form on
day three.
"I'm not really disappointed and it's just that I didn't really play very well," he said.
Joining Karlsson tied in second place on 18-under par is
fellow Swede Christian Nilsson (64) and Spain's Alvaro Velasco (64).