THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD: -14 L Oosthuizen (RSA) -13 R Coles (Eng) -12 G Canizares (Spn) -11 R Finch (Eng)-10 RJ Derksen (Ned), P Whiteford (Sco), S Hutsby (Eng) -9 S Kjeldsen (Den), F Molinari (Ita), Paul Lawrie (Sco), G Fernandez-Castano (Spn) Selected others: -8 T Levet (Fra), S Gallacher (Sco), G Orr (Sco) -5 D Howell (Eng), S Webster (Eng), G Maybin (NI) -2 P McGinley (Ire) level D Clarke (NI)  Oosthuizen has never won a Tour event |
Louis Oosthuizen holds a one-shot lead over Robert Coles going into the final round of the Andalucia Open in Malaga. South African Oosthuizen, second in Morocco last week, carded a four-under-par 66 to take him to 14 under overall. Englishman Coles sank 10 birdies on his way to a round-of-the-day 63, equalled by Thomas Levet who is eight-under. Spain's Gabriel Canizares (65) is third, two strokes off the lead with England's Richard Finch (66) another shot back in fourth. Sam Hutsby, who had shared the overnight lead with Oosthuizen, followed up Friday's 63 with a disappointing 70, which featured five bogeys, as he slipped down the leaderboard. The 21-year-old, from Liphook in Hampshire, is now four shots behind 27-year-old Oosthuizen, who has four runners-up finishes but no wins on the European Tour.  | 606: DEBATE |
Despite taking the lead, Oosthuizen, was left frustrated with his day's work, which included seven birdies and three bogeys. "My putting has not let me down, but I'm not happy with how I hit a few iron shots," he said. "It's a low-scoring course, but the thing is you can try and attack it too much and make stupid bogeys. I made a few." Coles' 63, his lowest round in 267 tournaments, contained just 20 putts as he holed from off the green at the 11th and chipped in to save par on the 16th. The former Petticoat lane stall worker has been on and off the Tour since his debut in 1995 - his last full season was back in 2006 but he graduated from the Challenge Tour at the end of last year. "There have been lots of times when I thought I might not have another chance," said the 37-year-old from Essex, who jumped from ninth to second. "I had three years on the Challenge Tour and each time I thought, 'Am I doing the right thing?', but getting my card back justifies the effort." Third-placed Canizares, the son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria, is another surprise name in contention. The 1,362nd-world ranked player, who had an albatross in the second round, eagled the par-three 14th before finishing with a five-under-par 65.
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