Conor Purcell may have timed his DP World Tour promotion bid to perfection ahead of the final round of the Black Desert NI Open presented by Tom McKibbin in Galgorm Castle.
Purcell claimed the halfway lead but despite being pipped by Joakim Lagergen’s blistering 61, he trails by the minimum heading into the final day after a 65 moved him to fourteen-under with the pair set for a Sunday shootout.
Frenchman Robin Scott Siegrist is the nearest challenger on nine-under.
After a slow start where he bogeyed the third, Purcell found his groove with birdies on the fourth and ninth to turn in 33 before a superb back nine of 32 where he rolled in birdies on 12, 13, 16, held out from a bunker for par on 17 and birdied 18 kept his hopes of a maiden Challenge Tour win very much alive.
“It was a good day it’s always tricky I’ve only been in this position once so when you have a lead going into today you can probably get into your own head,” said Purcell.
“I did a great job before and during the round of staying in my own bubble, Joakim played a hell of a round but I did well myself.”
“It was pleasing that my game carried over from Thursday and Friday my ball striking was really good and up until today I hadn’t holed a putt outside of ten feet, I had been struggling to read the greens.”
All the birdies kept Purcell on the coattails of Lagergren but if he can overtake the Swede on Sunday he will look back on what he described as “an outrageous four.”
“I got lucky on 17 I hit it left into the trees and had a full swing and just had to hit it really low and move it 30 yards right to left. I was trying really hard to keep it low that I nozzles it and hit it over the trees onto the 18th. I had to step out a yardage and half choked it into a bunker and just rolled out of its plug mark, loads of sand and held it for a four.
“I said to my caddie when I shanked it, I’m about to make an outrageous four, so it was nice to back that up!”
Purcell has been knocking on the door of a maiden Challenge Tour win over the last two seasons and both chances have come on home soil.
Big numbers have cost the Portmarnock man in the last two editions of the Irish Challenge but he believes the lessons learned have helped him keep his emotions in check ahead of a big day on Sunday where as it stands, he is projected to climb to sixth in the Road to Mallorca Standings with the top-20 earning DP World Tour cards in November.
“I’m lucky in the sense that it has happened me twice in two Irish events before when I was doing really well so I know it’s part of the game and you just have to handle them, I was just excited to play the next shot so it was fun.
“Playing the last two holes in one-under was mind-blowing. I can enjoy these days more rather than tensing up.”
Gary Hurley may be too far back on four-under to challenge the leaders but a top-10 would aid his promotion cause at 28th in the Road to Mallorca Rankings.