Czech Masters 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Thomas Pieters maintained control on moving day at the 2016 Czech Masters on Saturday. The Belgian finished the third round two-under to stay top of the leaderboard at 12-under par overall.

Defending champion Pieters finished two shots ahead of Paul Peterson, who enjoyed an excellent round and put together some of the best numbers ever made on the course. It was also a prolific round for Englishman Robert Rock, who shot 65 on the day.

Here's the day three leaderboard:

Position	Player	Day 3 Score	To Par
1	Thomas Pieters	70	-12
2	Patrick Peterson	64	-10
T3	Robert Rock	65	-9
T3	Jeff Winther	73	-9
5	Graeme Storm	68	-8
T6	Charlie Ford	66	-7
T6	David Lipsky	68	-7
T6	Ryan Evans	70	-7
T6	David Howell	71	-7
T6	Robert Karlsson	71	-7

All scorecard information via the European Tour official site.

Recap

Pieters staked his claim not to be caught by sinking a pair of birdies early, with the second coming on the par-three seventh.

The European Tour showed highlights:

Pieters followed that with par and another birdie, this one on the par-five nine, to help stretch his lead even further:

Bogeys on the 11th and 12th slowed Pieters' progress. However, a run of par on the last six holes maintained his advantage.

Eight birdies over the first 15 holes put American Peterson hot on Pieters' trail. But he could only manage par on the par-four 17, missing a great chance to further reduce the gap. Still, another par helped the American close out a highly profitable round.

It was record-equalling stuff from Peterson:

As well as Peterson played, Rock did his best to match him. He began his round with two-straight birdies before closing out the front nine with five pars.

Rock was just as impressive on the back nine. He hit four birdies, including on the par-three 18 to cap a bogey-free round and stay well in touch with the leader.

Another golfer who thrived early on was Robert Karlsson. He recovered from a bogey on the third to strike an eagle on the par-four fourth:

However, Karlsson could only manage par on the next five holes, leaving the Swede seven shots short of the leader at the end of the front nine.

Things got worse for Karlsson when he hit a bogey on the par-four 11 to slip further down the board. He did rally somewhat with a trio of birdies on the back nine to end five shots off the top.

Peterson moved up with his stunning day, but Pieters is showing little sign of losing his mastery of this course.