Jonathan Caldwell was the only one of five Irishmen to card a round in red figures on moving day at the HotelPlanner Tour’s The Dutch Futures, but he finds himself six off the lead going into the final round.
The Clandeboye man carded three early birdies but dropped a shot on the back nine enroute to a two-under 69 that lifted him into a share of 23rd, one shot ahead of Max Kennedy who traded two birdies with two bogeys in a level-par 72 to enter the final round tied for 29th.
Liam Nolan started the day in a tie for ninth after shooting a four-under 67 on day two, but he began with back-to-back bogeys, and though he battled back to level-par for the day at the turn, four more bogeys with just one birdie on the back leaves him on -1 and sharing 36th.
Dermot McElroy, who held the solo first round lead after a bogey-free 66 for a -5 tally, made a four-stroke improvement on round two but still drifted further from the lead with a one-over 72 to sit on +1, alongside Jack Madden who took one stroke more.
At the business end of affairs, Filippo Celli signed for a bogey-free nine-under-par round of 62 to take a one-stroke lead into the final day.
The Italian, who was among the early starters on moving day, mixed seven birdies with an eagle to sign for the low round of the week and move to nine-under for the tournament.
American duo Chase Hanna and Palmer Jackson, Belgian James Meyer de Beco and Scot Euan Walker all share second place on eight-under-par, but the day belonged to Celli.
Having parred the first and second at The Dutch, Celli made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth before adding an eagle to his scorecard on the par-5 sixth. The 24-year-old picked up one more birdie on seven to turn in just 30 strokes.
Four straight pars followed between holes 10 and 13 before the Italian closed out his round with four birdies in five holes, including a gain on the par-5 18th.
“I am happy because I played a solid round out there today,” he said.
“Since the first round I’ve been solid but the first two round the putts didn’t drop. I was really good on the greens today.
“I finished badly on Friday with two bad holes so this morning I woke up and told myself to be as aggressive as I can and it worked out really well.”
Celli currently sits ninth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings following three top-five finishes in his past four HotelPlanner Tour starts.
Still chasing a maiden victory, the Italian remains confident about his chances heading into Sunday’s final round.
“Obviously all of us are trying to contend in the final round and I know that I am playing well at the moment so my previous results will help me tomorrow; I am pretty confident,” he added.
“It won’t be easy to replicate today and obviously the day after you have really high expectations, but I will try and be as patient as I possibly can be and see what happens tomorrow.”
Norwegian Alexander Settemsdal, Italian Renato Paratore, French pair Felix Mory and Andoni Etchenique and South African Daniel van Tonder are on six under par in a share of sixth place.
The final round of The Dutch Futures gets under way at 7:32am local time with Celli teeing off alongside Hanna and Meyer de Beco at 12:00pm.
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