Larranaga holds firm on top

Eduardo Larranaga (c) Agathe Séron

Eduardo Larranaga, 28 year old, held firm in moving day in Masters 13. He shot one over par but his opponents did not shoot lower to catch him. He is -6 total and three players are -3 at second place, former winner France’s Dominique Nouailhac, Spain’s Borja Etchart and Italy’s Mattia Miloro.

Violent thunderstorm flooded the course during the night and tee times had been delayed by one hour and half to let the greenkeepers repaired the damages. After amazing work, the field could play in great conditions. The day was warm as sun came after night rain.

Despite these great conditions, none of the players in the two last groups shot under par. Jean-Pierre Verselin shot the best score of the day 66 with stunning hat trick of birdies from the 16^th. He almost gained 30 ranks in the leaderboard. Fellow Jean-Nicolas Billot, former Challenge Tour player signed for flawless 67 to catch 8^th place tie going into last round.

Larranaga kept his composure all day and deal with his new leader status quite easily.

“When you start a round in the first position you always feel the pressure. I keep my strategy, playing shot by shot and not to be too cautious. I already here last year and I like this course very much. I like the wind and the greens so all in all, I was confident since the beginning of the week.

On the 9^th, I had 200 meters for the green so I had to try. I missed the green on the left but I made a good chip to one meter and holed for birdie.

On the 14^th, it was an important hole because I hit a good drive but I had a very poor second but I hit my third shot 3 meters to the pin and I holed the putt.

This year I won the French Q school in Cap d’Agde and I won a small two day event in Spain but I never won a 4 round tournament.

It will be great to play with Borja, he is a good friend and I am looking forward to play tomorrow.”

From Pont Royal
Agathe Séron