Colm Moriarty entered the third round of the 72-hole PGA Professional Championship at Conwy Golf Club in second place and just three off the lead, but he has a mountain to climb if he’s to reel in leader Craig Lee who now has a seven-shot advantage over the Glasson man.
Back-to-back bogeys were far from the ideal start, but a birdie at the third helped stop the bleeding, and he’d trade another birdie with another bogey to make the turn at +1 for the day.
Disaster struck on the 10th, however, when taking a seven at the par-5 and with playing partner and 36-hole leader Lee continuing to build on his advantage throughout the front nine, it looked increasingly likely that Moriarty’s race was run.
Lee would suffer a double bogey-seven himself two holes later and though he’d get those shots back with birdies on 14 and 15, a five at the last brought him back to -10 but he still enjoys a healthy lead of six shots over fellow Scot Paul McKechnie and England’s Jack Frances, with Moriarty, who rebounded to play his final eight in -1, a shot further back on -3.
Sean O’Donoghue shot his second successive 73 to slip to +2 overall but holds on to a tie for 10th, with David Higgins two shots further adrift on +4.
Tim Rice and Richard Kilpatrick shot matching rounds of +4, with the former ending the day tied for 17th at +5 while the latter actually climbs one place to T40, which is evidence that Conwy Golf Club wasn’t in forgiving mood on moving day.