Oosthuizen surges clear in Morocco

Golf – European Tour: South African Louis Oosthuizen is primed to end a seven-year wait for a maiden European Tour win after storming two strokes clear of the field in the Hassan II Trophy third round.

The 27-year-old followed his record-equalling 64 on the Blue Course at Dar Es Salam on Friday by compiling another 64 on the Red layout to finish on 20-under 198.

Oosthuizen, who has been second on three occasions without managing a breakthrough victory on the tour, recorded 10 birdies and one bogey on Saturday.

"I felt like I hit the ball further with most of my clubs and my putting was good again," he said . "It was nice to have 10 birdies on my card, that doesn't happen every day. I am doing a few putting drills at the moment and it seems to be working so I just have to carry on doing that."

Rhys Davies is also hoping to clinch his first win after a seven-birdie 68 left him second on 200. Two weeks ago Davies led the Malaysian Open before ending in a share of third place.

"I am feeling really comfortable being in position again to win for the first time," said the Welshman. "This is my second tournament on the bounce where I am right in the mix and I'm enjoying it.

"It's good to be at the top and it's good to be playing with these world class players. Hopefully I can go that little bit better than I did in Malaysia and beat them tomorrow."

Thomas Levet (68) is tied for third on 202 with Thomas Aiken (67). Levet has competed in the tournament several times and is hoping local knowledge will help him secure a sixth tour victory.

"I am excited about tomorrow as I know the course very well," he said. "I am a little bit behind but four strokes are not too much to make up.

"We were on fire today and it's amazing how low people shot but I have the game for it. My game is good, I've done it before and it's going to be difficult for some guys because they haven't won before."

Ireland’s Peter Lawrie lost touch with the leaders in the third round and finished the day on nine-under. Gareth Maybin (11-under) now heads the Irish challenge with Darren Clarke well down the field on five-under.

Collated third round scores 
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold,)

198 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 64 64

200 Rhys Davies 68 64 68

202 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 68 67, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 65 68

203 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 67 69

204 Danny Willett 73 67 64

205 Robert Rock 71 67 67

206 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 70 70

207 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69 67, Gareth Maybin 72 69 66, Nick Dougherty 66 69 72, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 68 68 71

208 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 65 73, Sam Little 67 69 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 67 71

209 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 68 70, Stephen Gallacher 66 72 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 69 68, Peter Lawrie 66 70 73

210 Richard Bland 69 73 68, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 73 67 70, Robert Coles 72 65 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 68 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 67 73, David Lynn 69 71 70

211 Steve Webster 72 68 71, Peter Whiteford 72 70 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 72 65 74, Anthony Kang (USA) 70 69 72, Anthony Wall 69 73 69, David Drysdale 71 70 70, Stephen Dodd 70 70 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 66 74 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 72 71, Barry Lane 74 68 69

212 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 66 75 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 71 73, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 71 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 75 66 71, Paul Broadhurst 74 68 70

213 Andrew Butterfield 71 69 73, David Howell 70 70 73, David Horsey 67 71 75, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 67 72 74, Darren Clarke 69 72 72, Graeme Storm 73 69 71, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 70 68 75, Gary Boyd 71 72 70, Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 69 70, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 73 73

214 John Parry 74 68 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 73 74, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 68 73

215 Jhared Hack (USA) 71 68 76, Faycal Serghini (Mor) 73 68 74, Mark Brown (Nzl) 69 73 73, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 73 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 73 73

216 Gary Lockerbie 74 69 73, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 74 68 74

217 Jamie Donaldson 73 70 74, Younes El Hassani (Mor) 71 72 74

218 Peter Baker 73 69 76

219 Simon Khan 72 71 76

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