Swede round gives Broadhurst taste for success
Paul Broadhurst’s season may be coming to a premature end but it could yet do so with victory in the Scandinavian Masters.
Broadhurst carded a superb 64 in the third round at Arlandastad to lie just three shots off the lead shared by Germany’s Martin Kaymer and South African James Kingston.
“My wife has to go into hospital for surgery next week so I’ll be out of action for about 12 weeks with four kids and a sick wife to take care of,” Broadhurst explained.
“That will be the priority.
“I might be able to play the British Masters at The Belfry because it’s local but it’s a good incentive to get some money in the bank before a long break.”
It looked as though Broadhurst’s season was over on Friday afternoon when he stood five over par with four holes to play, but the 42-year-old midlander birdied three of those holes to make the cut with just a shot to spare.
Broadhurst, who won both his matches in the 1991 Ryder Cup and missed out on automatic qualification by just one place last year, then produced an even better finish to his third round today to boost his chances of a seventh European Tour title.
Birdies on the third and fourth took him to the turn in 32 and he picked up another shot on the 11th. A bogey on the 12th halted his charge temporarily but he again tamed the tough closing stretch with birdies on the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th – the latter from 30ft – to set a clubhouse target only bettered by Kaymer and Kingston in the last two groups.
“I was on my way home yesterday but birdied three of the last four holes and today I’ve birdied four of the last five. They are some of the toughest holes on the course so it’s a great finish,” Broadhurst added.
“The scoring is so bunched that anyone who shot three or four under was going to go flying up the leaderboard but I didn’t dream of shooting six under par to be fair.
“I thought anything par or better would be a really good score and to shoot 64 means a few things went my way.”
Ireland's best player is David Higgins at one under-par while Peter Lawrie is just a shot further back at level par. Damien McGrane and Graeme Murphy are further back the field at three and four-under respectively.
