Open De Espana 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Mike Lorenzo-Vera held a one-shot lead at the Open de Espana at the close of play on Saturday after going round in a level-par 71 on another difficult day for the players at Valderrama.

Martin Kaymer, Joost Luiten and Andrew Johnston sit immediately behind the Frenchman on two-over while Friday's leader Pablo Larrazabal slipped to four-over after a disastrous round of 78.

Here is how the leaderboard stands after Day 3 in Spain:

Position	Player	To Par	Day 3 Score
1	Mike Lorenzo-Vera	+1	71
T2	Joost Luiten	+2	70
T2	Martin Kaymer	+2	71
T2	Andrew Johnston	+2	74
T5	Ross Fisher	+3	72
T5	James Morrison	+3	74
T7	Pep Angles	+4	74
T7	Pablo Larrazabal	+4	78
T9	Alex Noren	+5	68
T9	Thomas Bjorn	+5	71

The full leaderboard can be accessed via the European Tour's official website.

It was yet another unforgiving round with multiple bogeys the order of the day for the majority of the players. 

Paul Dunne, who ended his round on 74 and 10-over in total, no doubt captured the feeling of many of his colleagues:

Even Lorenzo-Vera endured a mixed round. In the front nine, he bookended a double bogey at the par-five, 564-yard fourth with birdies at the third and fifth.

A series of six successive pars—a rarity in this tournament—helped keep him level before chipping in excellently for a birdie at the 12th, per the European tour:

Back-to-back bogeys at the 15th and 16th put his round in jeopardy, but an incredible eagle at the 17th saw him roar back into contention and earned him the lead:

He dropped a shot on the final hole, though, denying him an under-par score for the day and cutting his lead to just one shot.

Martin Kaymer also made par for the day as he cancelled out four birdies with as many bogeys. His exquisite approach to the 10th allowed him to pick up his third birdie of the day as it only required the simplest of putts to finish off:

Luiten had one of the best rounds of the day as he carded one-under—one of just two golfers in the top 10 to score under par on Friday.

The Dutchman alternated birdies on the first, fifth and eighth with bogeys at the second, seventh and ninth on the front nine. The back nine was more successful as he dropped just one shot at the 16th and made gains on the holes either side.

Despite a bogey at the second, Johnston made a strong start to his round. An outstanding approach shot at the fourth helped him regain the shot he'd dropped:

He picked up another on the fifth, but six more bogeys and a solitary birdie in the back nine at the 11th saw him lose ground on his rivals. Nevertheless, he remains firmly in contention, and the competition will be wide open for Sunday as a par round could be enough to win as players drop shots left, right and centre.

A special mention should also be made for Alex Noren, whose excellent round of three-under—which included just one bogey—catapulted him up 44 places from Friday. At five-over, he'd need to produce a similar round again to have a chance of winning. That would be some achievement on such a punishing course, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.