Finch keeping calm ahead of final round

Volvo China Open leader Richard Finch insisted he will take tomorrow’s final round one hole at a time as he looks to secure the third European Tour victory of his career.

Finch, whose best finish this season is a tie for 37th at the Qatar Masters, fired a stunning third-round 66 that included six consecutive birdies around the turn to establish a one-shot advantage over good friend Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano going into the final day.

And the 31-year-old revealed he will not be losing any sleep over how he will approach his last 18 holes at Beijing CBD International GC.

“I’ve never been a person who goes with game plans and planning things out the night before because there’s so many variables, where they put the pins, what the weather’s like,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to say I’m going to attack certain holes, it just depends how it is at the time.

“A lot of the pin positions were nearer the front of the green today and that put a premium on hitting the fairway off the tee and certainly the holes where I hit it in the rough you had a lot tougher approach shot because you were struggling to stop the ball.

“In terms of a game plan, I won’t really be thinking too much about it tonight.”

Finch captured his first European Tour title at the New Zealand Open after leading going into the final round and will draw on that memory as he looks to fend off up to seven players who are within four strokes of his eight-under-par total and harbouring realistic ambitions of snatching the title from his grasp.

“Obviously the past experience in New Zealand will definitely help,” he added.

“However, we’re three quarters of the way through the tournament and there’s another quarter to go so things can change quickly and one shot’s not a huge lead by any means.”

Starting the day on two-under and four shots behind overnight leader Choi ho-sung, five pars and a bogey at the sixth left Finch’s challenge seemingly hanging in the balance.

But the Hull-born player responded in fine fashion as he embarked on a run of six birdies from the seventh to resuscitate his chances at the co-sanctioned event.

Fernandez-Castano kept pace with his playing partner, however, and an eagle at the 13th left the Spaniard level at the top of the leaderboard with Finch on seven-under.

A birdie at the next helped Fernandez-Castano eke out a one-stroke advantage before the par-three 16th saw their roles reversed.

“I’m really delighted with the round today. It was a slow start, even though I was happy with how I was playing, and then all of a sudden I seemed to get on a really good run,” Finch said.

“Obviously making six birdies in a row made it into a really nice day and then to pick up an extra one on the way in at the 16th was really good, so really pleased with the round.”

That birdie at the 16th saw Finch claim the lead outright after he holed a 20-foot putt and Fernandez-Castano made a bogey before dropping another shot at the next to fall two shots off the pace, although the Spaniard did claw a stroke back at the last.

Finch, however, did not feel it will prove a turning point in his title bid.

“I never thought of it as crucial, 16’s a fairly tough par-three especially as the wind changed just as we got on that hole and we’d both have taken a three and gone to the next hole,” he said.

“That was a two shot swing, three holes before that he made an eagle and I made a par so that was two shots the other way. I think it does come and go.”

He was, however, pleased to be playing in the final group with Fernandez-Castano.

“I’ll be playing with Gonzalo tomorrow which is nice because he’s a good friend and I’ll just go out, try my best and see what happens. At the end of the day always to win you need that little bit of luck and things to go your way,” he said.

“We’re of a similar age, we certainly played a lot of amateur tournaments together and we both turned professional at the same time.

“We’ve played various international events where we’ve been paired together or rivals, I’ve know him ever since I’ve been playing competitive golf at an international level. He’s a real good lad, we had a good laugh on the way round today. It was good.”