Kristof Ulenaers does not relinquish the lead after the third round of the Challenge of Cu00e1diz that was being played at the Iberostar Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri where he leads with 19 under par and a lead of 7 strokes over Hurly Long with one round to go. Lucas Vacarisas and Alfredo Garcu00eda-Heredia share the 10th position.

Today was the u201cmoving dayu201d, the du00eda in which the classification usually varies, but the Belgian has not moved from the first position keeping a considerable distance, although Long, winner in Italy last year, Knappe and Karlsson, who are fighting to return to the European Tour, are on his heels. Neither his lack of experience, as this is the first Challenge Tour tournament he is playing and he is doing it by invitation, nor his youth, nor the nervous nights, and not even the European Tour winners he has faced since the tournament began, have made his pulse tremble and, on the contrary, he is holding firm without giving up the lead.

Ulenaers, unconditional fan of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy‘s swing, today has made 4 birdies, an eagle and a bogey for 67 and a total of minus 19: u201cThe truth is that I feel very comfortable on the course, with this weather, with my caddy who is a friend of Marbella with whom I coincided at the University, all this combined result in the 19 under par. Today I also went out to play nervous, but as soon as I made the first birdie on hole 2 I regained my confidence, and the eagle on the 13th gave me peace of mind to face the last few holes. All this means a lot to me, playing so well, being here, the interviewsu2026 I can’t believe what I’m living, I’m happy. Tomorrow I prefer to go out without expecting anything more than to enjoy the du00edau201d.

Hurly Long was second with 12 under par and Alexander Knappe third with minus 10. The Swede Anton Karlsson has signed the best round of the tournament, with two eagles and 4 birdies for 64, minus 8: u201cThe first two du00edas juguu00e9 quite well, but it cost me a lot to make good result, peguu00e9 quite decent shots, but not aprovechu00e9 the par 5s. Today su00ed, I made two eagles on 2 and 11, I played very well the irons today. There are still things to improve, but I put myself in a good position. Golf is tough, sometimes it’s easy and most of the time it’s not.

Asturian Alfredo Garcu00eda-Heredia and Barcelona’s Lucas Vacarisas (member of the ProSpain Team) share the twelfth position with 7 strokes under par.

Garcu00eda-Heredia has made 69 strokes for minus 7: u201cFor the fifth consecutive round I have made a double bogey and asu00ed you can not make fewer strokes. I do not su00e9 that happens because they are not catastrophic strokes, but I do not get rid of the double bogey, I was making a good round with 4 birdies but the double bogey is always waiting for me somewhere and asu00ed is difficult to make 6 under paru201d.

Vacarisas has made 4 birdies and 3 bogeys, two of them in the last two holes to finish with 71, minus 7: u201cFrom hole 3 I hit a bad shot, I have been dragging but I managed to get birdies ahead. The key has been the 13th and 14th holes, which were affordable and I have not made birdie and I ended up playing very badly the last three holes. It was a hard-fought du00eda, but it’s a very good course where you can’t be confident, you can make 6 under or you can swell. The key is to have eagle options on the par 5s and I didn’t have it todayu201d.

Borja Virto, member of the ProSpain Team, who passed the cut very fair, has signed an impeccable card with 6 birdies and no errors to climb to the 15u00ba position with a total of 6 under par: u201cThe first day I did not play well but since yesterday I caddie my girlfriend and the truth is that I have relaxed and I started to play well, yesterday I made 67 strokes and today 66. I played very, very well, although it is a little extrau00f1o because minus 6 was very good, but I have left me clear options, although I have two chips on 1 for par and 5 for birdie very good. And I made a 10-meter putt to finish that felt great. I’m playing well, I’m going from less to mu00e1s, I started playing the Canary tournaments and I noticed my lack of competition because last year I didn’t play much. I was tense, I missed cuts, I was nervous and it affected me. But in the last tournaments I have been much better, I have been with options both in Ireland and in Czech Republic and I notice that my game is getting betteru00f3n.

Santiago Tarru00edo, winner last week today has made 67 strokes with 6 birdies in the first 10 holes. u201cI started very well, but I had bad luck on the 11th that I have left the ball in a tree and from then on I have been very tired, I forgot to play golf for a few holes and I was kicking until I finished. It’s my 8u00aaa week in a row with a car trip of mu00e1s of thousand kilu00f3meters from home to here, and it shows, the gasoline doesn’t hold me. But with a bit of beach this afternoon, I will beu00e9 recovered for tomorrow and for the Challenge de Espau00f1au201d.u00a0

Mau00f1ana will be disputed the final day of the Challenge of Cu00e1diz that beginu00e1 at 8.00h in match of 3 players; the match of the lu00edder will start at 12.30h and at the end will be madeu00e1 the delivery of the trophy to the winner.

The Challenge of Cu00e1diz , which ends tomorrow,is sponsored by the RealFederaciu00f3n Espau00f1olau00a0deu00a0Golf and the Real Federaciu00f3n Andaluza de Golf, and with the collaboration of the Diputaciu00f3n de Cu00e1diz, the Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Cu00e1diz, the City Council of Chiclana, the Consejo Superior de Deportes, Loteru00edas y Apuestas del Estado, EDP Solar, Allianz, AON, Halcu00f3n Viajes, Kyocerau00a0(official printing services), u00a0Iberostaru00a0(Official Hotel), Solu00e1n de Cabras and Hospital Viamed Novo Sancti Petri. The organizer is u00a0JGolf. The Challenge of Cu00e1diz supports the celebration of the Solheim Cup 2023.u00a0

Photos by Kristof Ulenaers made by Getty Images