A hat-trick of birdies on the back nine at Le Golf National helped Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan stay in contention at the French Open in Paris after the third round on Saturday.
The 25-year-old was treading water somewhat with 12 pars to start his round but he lit up his scorcard with a splash of red with birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th to card a three-under 68 and move to eight under par.
It left Moynihan in a share of fifth position at the former Ryder Cup venue, five shots off leader Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, whose 67 helped him open up a three-shot lead over the field.
Colsaerts's 67 moved him to 13 under and put him in pole position for a first victory in seven years, with South African George Coetzee his closest competition after a 70.
Jamie Donaldson – who was celebrating his 44th birthday in the French capital – shot a brilliant 66 to get to nine under alongside American Kurt Kitayama.
Colsaerts carded five birdies and a bogey as he turned a share of the overnight into a three-shot advantage, and he is keeping his focus purely on his game.
“It would be amazing to win this thing but if I stay away from thinking that I think my chances will a lot higher than if I see this thing in front of me,” he told europeantour.com.
“I’m on a mission, I have a lot to play for and it’s not like actually winning this tournament is at the forefront of my mind, you still have to play shots.”
A string of injury troubles – including an accident with a chainsaw in 2016 – have hampered Donaldson in the last five years but he is confident he still has the mentality that has brought him three European Tour victories.
“You don’t really try to remember your birthday when you get to 40-plus but a memorable day on my birthday,” he said after carding six birdies and a single dropped shot.
“I’ll just keep playing the way I’ve been playing the last three days, which is being aggressive. I’ve got a gameplan but I need to be pushing on to try to win the tournament.”
Moynihan and Scotland's Richie Ramsay were joined on eight under by e Dane Joachim B Hansen, who carded a 69 that included a quintuple-bogey nine after going in the water twice on the 13th.
THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD
British and Irish unless stated, par 71
200 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 67 66 67
203 George Coetzee (Rsa) 65 68 70
204 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 66 68 70, Jamie Donaldson 71 67 66
205 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 68 68 69, Gavin Moynihan 68 69 68, Richie Ramsay 66 69 70
206 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 68 69 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 69 69, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 66 71 69
207 Sam Horsfield 70 72 65, Victor Perez (Fra) 67 71 69
208 Steven Brown 71 68 69, Hudson Swafford (USA) 74 65 69
209 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 69 71 69, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 71 73 65, Andy Sullivan 70 71 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 71 68 70
210 Hugo Leon (Chi) 68 72 70, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 67 72 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 69 76 65, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 65 74 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 70 73, Jerome Lando Casanova (Fra) 69 72 69, Chris Paisley 68 74 68, Frederic Lacroix (Fra) 72 72 66
211 SSP Chawrasia (Ind) 70 69 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 70 68, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 68 74 69, David Horsey 70 72 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 68 73 70
212 Deyen Lawson (Aus) 68 72 72, Stephen Gallacher 70 72 70, David Lipsky (USA) 71 72 69, Jordan Smith 68 74 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 72 70, Gavin Green (Mal) 73 68 71, Jeong weon Ko (Fra) 73 69 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 74 69 69
213 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 73 72 68, Ben Evans 71 73 69, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 71 70, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 69 73 71, Liam Johnston 68 76 69, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 70 71, Charlie Saxon (USA) 70 71 72
214 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 73 67 74, Callum Shinkwin 70 74 70, Ashley Chesters 70 73 71, Stewart Cink (USA) 70 70 74, Lee Slattery 71 68 75, Renato Paratore (Ita) 69 72 73, Bradley Dredge 69 73 72
215 Alex Noren (Swe) 72 72 71, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 73 72 70, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 74 69 72, Jake McLeod (Aus) 73 69 73, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 75 70 70, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 74 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 69 73 73
216 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 71 74 71, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 67 76 73, James Morrison 71 73 72
217 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 72 73 72, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 72 73 72, Oliver Fisher 70 72 75
218 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 69 76 73, Richard McEvoy 69 75 74, Charles Larcelet (a) (Fra) 71 71 76
219 Justin Walters (Rsa) 67 77 75, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 77 75
220 Max Schmitt (Ger) 72 72 76, Ashun Wu (Chn) 70 74 76, Julien Quesne (Fra) 70 72 78
222 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 76 69 77
223 Marc Warren 71 72 80
