DP World Tour : Austrian Alpine Open Tee Times Leaderboard
Kota Kaneko showed he had nerves of steel to birdie the last and earn the outright lead during an intriguing Moving Day at the 2026 Austrian Alpine Open presented by Kitzbühel Tirol.
The Japanese has been a picture of consistency at Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith this week and kept his cool with a calm ten-foot putt at the 18th to card his third successive round of 65.
His scorecard showed six birdies and one dropped shot for the third straight day as he leads the way at -15 under, one clear of Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia -14, who posted a bogey-free 63.
Kaneko hopes to go one better than his runner-up finish at last week's Soudal Open as he targets his maiden DP World Tour title.
"I’ve been putting really well and also my tee shots have been great. I’ve given myself a lot of chances and I took advantage of those," Kameko said.
"The golf course is in Turkey and also Belgium really suits me. I like it here in Austria too and I feel confident off the tee at the moment.
"I think I will be nervous tomorrow but if I play my game I think I can do well and have a good result."
Gouveia made his move thanks to an explosive start, rolling birdies at each of the opening four holes.
That put him alongside overnight leader Andrew Johnston, but they were knocked off top spot when Gregorio De Leo eagled the tenth to climb to -12.
The Italian dropped a shot at the 12th as Johnston regained his place at the summit with an opening birdie.
Gouveia also reached -12 by finishing his front nine with a birdie and while Johnston bogeyed the fourth, his playing partner Kaneko birdied the third and fourth for a three-way tie.
Gouveia carded seven birdies in the lowest round of the day, with China's Zhou one shot further adrift at -13 under.
"I can't say much, it was really solid from the get go," Gouveia said.
"Started off with four birdies, surprised by the putt on three, but that just kept me going. I was playing solid, a lot of wedge shots, holed some nice putts and just a phenomenal day."
Joost Luiten is in solo fourth at -12 under, while Johnston was four shots off the leader at -11 alongside home favourite Bernd Wiesberger, Calum Hill, Richard Sterne, Joe Dean and Davis Bryant.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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