DP World Tour: Commercial Bank Qatar Masters Leaderboard
Matthew Jordan goes into the final round of the 2022 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters locked alongside Adrian Meronk at the top of the leaderboard after producing a fine finish in extremely difficult conditions on Saturday afternoon.
Englishman Jordan had to show patience and mental toughness on Moving Day after carding three bogeys and no birdies on the front nine at a windswept Doha Golf Club.
And he got his reward after the turn, with birdies at the tenth, 12th, 15th, 16th and 18th taking him home in 31 as he signed for a 70 to get to eight under par.
He was joined at the summit by Meronk after the Pole got up and down at the 18th to close his third-round 72 with a birdie.
The duo, who are both searching for a maiden DP World Tour win, lead by one shot from Kalle Samooja, who posted a remarkable 66 earlier in the day.
Long-time leader Pablo Larrazábal is in a three-way tie for fourth on six under after following up a spotless front nine with a back-nine 40 which contained five bogeys.
Jordan said on Friday that his aim was to stay in contention over the weekend but that dream looked in danger of slipping away early on.
He started the day three shots behind Larrazábal on six under par but fell back to three under after bogeys at the second, fifth and eighth.
He bounced back with a birdie at the long tenth before picking up another shot on the 12th.
Jordan made another birdie at the 15th when the flag somehow trapped his long, speedy putt in the hole, and he followed that up with another on the 16th to grab a share of the lead.
He took the outright lead with a six-foot birdie on the last before being joined by Meronk shortly afterwards.
"I find the front nine is probably tougher, maybe - a couple less chances anyway," said Jordan.
"I wasn't doing too much wrong, I just couldn't get up and down, couldn't hit fairways great, it just wasn't quite happening - but I knew I wasn't that far off.
"I just kept going and fortunately enough it all started to click.
Meronk also got off to a shaky start, with bogeys on the first, fifth and seventh but made amends with a chip-in birdie from a tough lie at the eighth before getting another shot back on the ninth.
He then mixed two more birdies with two bogeys over the next six holes before finishing his round with a close-range birdie to grab a share of the lead.
“I’m very pleased to be honest," said Meronk. "It was super tough. I knew it was going to be tough, it was a grinding day but I’m very satisfied with the result and looking forward to tomorrow.
With the wind howling, Canadian Aaron Cockerill who lost his playing privileges on this tour last year, was in the first pairing out and took advantage of fresh greens and lighter wind to post his best round of the week -3 69 (72 72) with 5 birdies and just 2 bogeys including a 3 putt at the 18th.
He is T19 in a large group 5 shots off the lead, in fact their are 32 players within 5 shots.
The wind is expected to be even worse tomorrow, so who ever can harness it best will be richly rewarded.
Bryan Angus (edit europeantour.com)
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