By David Ferguson
Holland's Robert-Jan Derksen was once more the man with the game as atrocious conditions afflicted the €2.1 million Ballantine's Championship at the Pinx Golf Club on Jeju Island, Korea.
The start of play on Saturday was delayed for three hours by fog, and once things were under way howling winds buffeted the course and sent scores soaring. Only one player, Francois Delamontagne of France, succeeded in breaking par, with a one-under score of 71. It was a terrific effort that saw him leaping up the leaderboard from 42nd to 6th place, only five shots off the lead.
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Francois Delamontagne hits a drive during the third round of the Ballantine’s Championship at Pinx Golf Club in Jeju, Korea, on Saturday. The Frenchman was the only player to break par on a day when strong winds made scoring difficult. [James Cheadle/Ballantine's Championship]
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"I just had a very solid long game and some good putting," said Delamontagne. "That's the secret, to make your putts in these conditions. It was amazing, because it was so cold, and massive wind. But you know, I'm from Brittany in France and there's a lot of wind there as well. I like to play in these conditions, but with five or six degrees more!
"In these conditions, you have to be patient and just hit shot after shot and say, 'OK, I missed a shot but I'm going to miss another one.' You just have to concentrate on the routine."
Delamontagne won the French Amateur Championship in 2000 and the French Amateur International Championship the following year but has yet to win as a professional. Saturday's brilliant effort left him on course to eclipse his best finish this season – joint 12th at the Open de Portugal earlier this month.
Teeing off at the 10th hole after tournament organizers, with one eye on the weather, opted for a two-tee start, Delamontagne opened with a pair of birdies. Bogeys on the 13th and 17th brought him back to level par for the day but he birdied the par-four 18th and then played flawlessly to par the remaining nine holes as the players around him struggled.
Delamontagne – whose father Patrick played football for France – will be looking for more of the same in the final round of the €2.1 million showpiece, which is once again co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours and Korea PGA.
"There is one more day and I think if I hit the ball like this tomorrow with the same surface on the green, it will be good," he said on Saturday. "I'm playing well. I think I just need to go out with the same attitude that I had today."
Elsewhere on the course there was carnage. Of 74 starters, 28 players posted scores of 80 or more. Delamontagne was the biggest winner, while third-placed Alessandro Tantini's of Italy had a nightmare 84 that saw him drop from joint third to 41st. Other big names to fall out of contention were Henrik Stenson and Fred Couples, who both carded 81st.
