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Lindberg and Elvira share third-round lead in Cheonan

football25 October 2025 11:32
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Mikael Lindberg © Gallo Images

Mikael Lindberg and Nacho Elvira jumped out of the chasing pack to earn a share of the third-round lead at the Genesis Championship.

Eight players were in a logjam at the top after Friday's play, but Lindberg recorded the joint lowest round of Moving Day with a 67 to surge ahead and set the clubhouse target of eight under par.

The Swede briefly led by two, but Elvira carded three birdies in four holes on the back nine to join him on that mark at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club.

They hold a two-shot advantage over English pair Andy Sullivan and Alex Fitzpatrick, China's Haotong Li and Japan's Yuto Katsuragawa, with a further five players lying in wait at five under.

"It was a good day, a good day for sure," Lindberg said. "The weather has been very nice since we got here and I like the course.

"I'm not going to try to think too much about it. I've been playing well lately and have been playing well this week, and hopefully I can continue to play good golf tomorrow and we will see."

Kiradech Aphibarnrat opened with a birdie to briefly make it a nine-way tie at the top at six under before bogeying the third to slip back.

Daniel Hillier also followed the Thai with a birdie at the first to jump out of the crowd and reach seven under, but he was soon joined by Song Minhyuk's gain at the second hole for the third day running.

Aphibarnrat replied instantly with a brace of birdies from the fourth to join the leading pair at seven under, although Song dropped one behind with a bogey at the second.

New Zealander Hillier dropped a shot at the fifth to leave Aphibarnrat on his own at the summit, however, that was short-lived as Sungjae Im, who was inches from holing his huge eagle putt, tapped in for birdie at the same hole.

Lindberg birdied the eighth to join the leading pair but when playing partner Aphibarnrat followed him in on the same hole, he was ahead on eight under.

The scoring among the frontrunners stalled until Lindberg missed from four feet at the 13th to fall back to six under.

Aphibarnrat momentarily led by two but when he carded back-to-back bogeys from the 13th, the leading group swelled to six with Tom Vaillant, Haotong Li, Elvira, Im and Lindberg all at six under.

However, Lindberg made amends with a lovely 20-foot birdie at the next to take the outright lead.

The Swede's putter got hot once more when he rolled in from 37 feet at the 16th to extend his lead to two.

Elvira became Lindberg's only rival at six under as the challengers began to fade in the afternoon, but the Spaniard trimmed the advantage to one thanks to a birdie at the 14th.

A great approach at the 15th gave Elvira the chance for a third birdie in four holes, an opportunity he took to join Lindberg at eight under.

Lindberg parred his way home to sign for a 67 and Elvira followed suit, after a stunning par save at the last, to share the lead heading into the final round.

"It was a grind to be fair, I started off a little bit shaky," Elvira admitted. "It didn't feel like I was hitting the ball bad, just hit one a little bit short on three which cost me a double.

"But I tried to stay patient because I know it's a tough course, the birdies are not guaranteed here so I think I did a good job with that."

Sullivan finished his round with four straight birdies to climb up to six under, while Katsuragawa carded four birdies and three bogeys in his 70.

Li mixed four birdies with four dropped shots in his 71 and Fitzpatrick offset two bogeys on the front nine with two gains on the back nine to sit two behind the leaders.

Home hopefuls Seungbin Choi and Garam Jeon are among those at five under alongside Aphibarnrat, Belgian Thomas Detry and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama.

© europeantour.com

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