'A good day' - Daniel Young leads by four shots in Scottish Challenge chasing maiden HotelPlanner Tour win
Seven Scots in top 20 heading into final round at Schloss Roxburghe near Kelso
Daniel Young may be too young to remember it, but he’ll be hoping that 3-2-1, a 1980s TV show, will be an omen for his recent run of results on the HotelPlanner Tour come Sunday night.
Third in the Blot Play9 then joint-second in the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge, back to-back events in France, the 33-year-old Perth man is now chasing a win in the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A.
Two shots off the lead at the halfway stage in the £250,000 event at Schloss Roxburghe near Kelso, Young sits four strokes clear of the field heading into the closing circuit.
He’s chasing a maiden win on the DP World Tour’s feeder circuit but, based on a combination of his recent form and a nine-birdie salvo in a third-round 64, he looks ready to grasp the opportunity.
“Yeah, it’s been a good day,” said Young of picking up four shots in the first five holes then bouncing back from two bogeys in three holes by making further gains at the ninth, 11th, 12th, 16th and 17th at the Borders venue.
“Just played really nicely,” he added. “The putter was pretty hot, so that was probably key to making as many birdies as I did, which was nice. Yeah, I’ve had it (nine birdies) a few times. I could do with another nine tomorrow, I think. That would be nice.”
Frenchman Julien Quesne, who also signed for a 64, leads the chase, with 2018 winner David Law and Euan Walker in a group of five players on 13 under. With With Will Porter and Marc Warren both on 11 under and Jack McDonald and amateur Connor Graham also in the top 20, the Scots have risen to the challenge so far in their home event.
“It helps,” said Young, who gave a good account of himself in The Open a fortnight ago despite missing the cut at Royal Portrush, of playing on Scottish soil. “It is nice to have my fiancee, family, friends, everybody cheering you on. Playing good golf helps as you kind of get to feed off the applause. The guys I was playing with were playing nicely as well at times and you are just trying to feed off each other as well.”
Young, who currently sits 14th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, will move into a strong position in the battle for 20 DP World Tour cards if he can finish off the job. “I’ve seen the forecast,” he said of rain and wind being on the way for the last round, “but I will just be heading down and trying to do what I’ve been doing. It’s the old cliche of one shot and one hole at a time and see where it gets me at the end of the day. There’s still a lot of golf left.
“I think it’s that type of course that someone could come from nowhere and shoot seven, eight or nine under. I’ll still have to go out tomorrow and play a good round of golf. I’ll just be going out with the same mindset I’ve had for the first three days and trying to make as many birdies as the course will give me and see where that leaves me this time tomorrow.”
Law kept his hopes alive of landing this title for a second time and also a second win of the season after signing for a bogey-free 67, two shots better than Walker. “It was really difficult today,” said Law. “There wasn’t much wind, but it was everywhere. You couldn’t decide where it was, so it was so hard to get it pin high. So to be bogeyfree was really pleasing. I played good golf. Danny is playing great, so he’s gotten away from us a little bit, but it was another good day.”
Meanwhile, Japan’s Miyu Yamashita saw her three-shot halfway lead whittled down to just one heading into the last round of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. Korean A Lim Kim is her closest challenger, with American Andrea Lee a further shot back.
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