Nordea Masters 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights
Matthew Fitzpatrick will enter the final day of the 2016 Nordea Masters in full control after another fine round of golf on moving day, shooting four under to stay five shots ahead of former winner Alex Noren and Nicolas Colsaerts.
Noren was one of the top performers on Saturday but barely gained ground on Fitzpatrick, who has played nearly flawless golf all tournament long. Colsaerts and Lasse Jensen also put together solid outings in Round 3, but barring a major meltdown, the 21-year-old will walk away with the win on Sunday.
Here's a look at the leaderboard after moving day, courtesy of the European Tour's official Twitter account:
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Recap
Fitzpatrick continued his superb play at the Nordea Masters on Saturday, playing another almost-perfect round to finish with a score of four-under.
After recording just a single bogey throughout the first two rounds, he added a second on the front nine but immediately made up for it with a birdie.
He then went on a solid run through the back nine, making birdies on four of the first six holes. Once again, his approach shots and short game made the difference, via the European Tour's official Twitter account:
Last year's British Masters champion has been the most consistent player at this year's Nordea Masters by some distance, and it's hard to see any scenario in which he gives up a healthy lead after playing three high-quality rounds.
If anyone can catch him, it's two-time Nordea Masters winner and defending champion Noren, who rose all the way up to second place on the leaderboard with a five-under round.
Noren put together one of the best performers of the day on the front nine, shooting three-under, and while back-to-back bogeys to start the back nine threatened to sink his round, a run of four straight birdies made him one of the top risers of the day.
The European Tour's official Twitter account shared this highlight:
The 33-year-old knows the Bro Hof Slott Golf Club better than most, but the windy conditions in Sweden have negatively impacted him the last few days, while Fitzpatrick has seemed almost untouchable. A five-shot gap is a lot to overcome, particularly when the leader is playing as well as the Brit.
Belgium's Colsaerts was one of the few top players on Saturday to record a better score on the front nine than on the back nine, hitting three birdies through his first four holes before shooting one over through his last nine.
He did provide plenty of highlights, including this beautiful shot:
No one recorded a better score on Saturday than Jensen, whose round of six-under moved him up a total of 22 spots and into the top five. Four birdies on the back nine made the difference, as the Danish star completed his second straight round without a bogey.
Chris Hanson also moved up the leaderboard with a round of two-under, and he took to Twitter to explain just how much of a factor the wind played:
Fitzpatrick will have a nice buffer to work with on Sunday, and unless he completely falls apart on the technical front nine, the likes of Noren and Colsaerts won't have any chance of catching him.
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