Emerson moves two clear

KLM Open leader Gary Emerson packed plenty of incident into the first six holes of his third round as he extended his advantage to two shots in Holland.

The Dorset golfer began in spectacular style at the Hilversumsche Golf Club by holing his second shot of the day to initially open up a three-shot advantage.

He had about 117 yards to the flag and his sand wedge pitched 15 feet from the pin and bounced four times before dropping into the cup for an eagle two.

That took him to 10-under with a two-shot swing over playing partner Paul Broadhurst, who had hit his approach to six feet but lipped out with his birdie putt.

Emerson’s 120-yard approach to the par-four second finished 14 feet from the pin, but he just missed the birdie chance and remained at 10-under, with Broadhurst also parring the hole.

After pars at the third and fourth, both overshot the 125-yard fifth and while Emerson almost holed a difficult chip back and then escaped with par, Broadhurst left himself with a tricky 20-foot putt which he failed to sink.

There was more drama at the next as Emerson’s approach buried itself in the steep bank of a greenside bunker with less than a quarter of the ball visible.

Although he got free relief, the next problem he had was dropping his ball on the steep incline.

After several attempts he eventually had to move 10 feet to his left and find a clump of thick grass on which to place his ball.

That still gave him an awkward stance and he chipped through the green and could not get up and down and so slipped back to nine-under.

Broadhurst also had difficulties at the same hole, leaving his approach short, chipping off the back of the green and eventually finishing with a bogey to fall to five-under.

Austrian Markus Brier moved within two of the lead with birdies at the fifth and sixth, with Italian Alessandro Tadini a shot further back after a birdie at the fourth.

Emerson's slide continued at 421-yard next where he found the heavy rough off the tee, blasted out and then found the greenside bunker from where he surrendered two shots and drop to seven under.

He was fortunate Brier bogeyed the 10th to go back to six under, while Broadhurst clawed himself back level with the Austrian after pitching to four feet at the eighth.

With the wind at its strongest of the week, Emerson escaped with a par at the ninth after rolling in a 12-foot putt after finding the rough again and a fairway bunker.