Porsche European Open: Ritthammer, MacIntyre hold narrow 54-hole lead

Home favourite Bernd Ritthammer is now in a tie for the lead of the Porsche European Open, having made up ground on Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre in the third round.

Bernd Ritthammer started third round of the 2019 Porsche European Open in second place, four shots behind Robert MacIntyre, but after carding a two-under-par round of 70, the German moved into a tie at -9.

On the flip side, the Scot could only manage a two-over-par round of 74, as he dropped back from -11 and into a share of the lead after three days at Green Eagle.

It could have been worse for the overnight leader, had he not birdied the 18th on Saturday afternoon, moving himself back into that tie for the lead.

The pair are one shot clear of Paul Casey, who sits in third at -8. The Englishman led the event on Thursday night after shooting a 66 on the first day, but struggled on day two.

However, he fought back on Saturday, carding a three-under-par round of 69 to move back up the leaderboard and into the top three ahead of the final day.

Austrian Matthias Schwab and Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal are in a tie for 4th place, a further shot back. The Spaniard, along with Ben Evans, who is in 6th on -6, both carded 68s on day three, the best rounds among the front-runners. Larrazabal’s round included this lovely chip-in for a birdie two at the 17th, and he already has two victories in German soil.

Spanish hands 🇪🇸👏🏼@plarrazabal #PEO2019 pic.twitter.com/nQzF2z6dXh
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 7, 2019

Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and Denmark’s Jeff Winther are in a tie for 7th ahead of the final round, sitting at -5, just four shots back from the leading pair.

A group of five sit a further shot back, including Niklas Lemke, who matched the 68s of Larrazabal and Evans. Scottish Open winner Bernd Wiesberger also sits at -4, along with Kristian Krogh Johannessen, Louis De Jager and Ashley Chesters.

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington is at -3, six shots back from the lead with 18 to play. He is joined by Romain Wattel, whose 67 was the low round of Saturday’s action in Hamburg.

German Max Rottluff is at -1, while countryman, and the lead amateur in the event, Marc Hammer, is at +4 with a round to play. The likes of Thomas Pieters, Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele all split the home duo.

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Ben Stow, who was inside the top five after the first round, carded a 78 on the third day, the worst of Saturday’s play, to drop him outside the top 50 ahead of the final round.

Only four men sit below the Englishman in the standings ahead of the final day’s play. They include Kiwi Ryan Fox and France’s Clément Sordet.

The Frenchman will be in the first pairing out on Sunday morning, alongside Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez, getting underway at 07:15 local time (UTC+2).

MacIntyre and Ritthammer will go toe-to-toe in the final group of the day, with the two leaders getting their final rounds started at 12:45, with the winner being crowned around four hours later.

Neither of the two have won on the European Tour before, so we could see a first come Sunday evening. But, with the likes of Paul Casey and Pablo Larrazabal in the chasing pack, anything is possible at Green Eagle on the final day.

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2019 Porsche European Open Leaderboard:

T1 (-9): Bernd Ritthammer (GER), Robert MacIntyre (SCO)

3 (-8): Paul Casey (ENG)

T4 (-7): Matthias Schwab (AUT), Pablo Larrazabal (ESP)

6 (-6): Ben Evans (ENG)

T7 (-5): Guido Migliozzi (ITA), Jeff Winther (DEN)

T9 (-4): Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Kristian Krogh Johannessen (NOR), Louis De Jager (RSA), Ashley Chesters (ENG), Niklas Lemke (SWE)

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