Publications
Partners
Newport - Jamie Donaldson was best placed of the trio of Ryder Cup players at the Wales Open, the local star carding a third round 68 on Saturday to be placed six shots behind Joost Luiten.
Donaldson's European Ryder Cup colleague Lee Westwood also shot a 68 after a birdie-eagle finish to leave him a further five shots down the field with Thomas Bjorn firing a level par 71 to be placed one shot further back.
Luiten's third round 65 left the Dutchman two shots clear of Ireland's Shane Lowry.
Luiten, overlooked for a Ryder Cup wildcard, made birdies at the first, third and fifth holes with playing partner Lowry also picking up shots at the second, third and sixth.
Luiten went on to birdie three of the closing four holes while Lowry had to make do with 12 straight pars.
The 28-year-old was fourth in the Italian Open, the last qualifying event for the Ryder Cup, and after being overlooked for a wild card two days later, finished fifth in the defence of his Dutch Open title on home soil last week.
"If you had these last couple of events counting for Ryder Cup qualification maybe I have a chance, but you know when the date ends and the qualification stops and you have to play well before that and I didn't do that," Luiten said. "You have to be realistic.
"I'm just happy that I'm playing good again and just want to keep going again."
Lowry, who won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009 and the Portugal Masters in 2012, said after his 68: "I got off to a flyer and just nothing really happened for me. I did make three good par saves, but I would have liked to make a couple more birdies and probably should have."
France's Gregory Havret carded a 66 to lie three shots off the lead on 11 under alongside former champion Thongchai Jaidee, who shot 67.
Havret, who finished runner-up to Graeme McDowell in the 2010 US Open but has not won on the European Tour since 2008, said: "I played good. Unfortunately the last three holes were not as good as the first 15, but it was definitely a good round.
"Anything red (under par) in this beautiful course is always good, and that's three in a row and hopefully another one tomorrow."
Collated third round scores in the Wales Open at the Celtic Manor Resort on Saturday (GBR&IRL unless stated, par 71):
199 - Joost Luiten (NED) 65 69 65
201 - Shane Lowry 68 65 68
202 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 68 67 67, Gregory Havret (FRA) 69 67 66
203 - Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 72 63 68
204 - Steve Webster 68 72 64, Marc Warren 70 67 67, Tommy Fleetwood 68 68 68
205 - Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 66 68 71, Ricardo Santos (POR) 68 68 69, Graeme Storm 71 69 65, Joachim B Hansen (DEN) 69 71 65, Anthony Wall 69 71 65, Romain Wattel (FRA) 69 72 64, Jamie Donaldson 70 67 68, Eddie Pepperell 68 74 63
206 - Andy Sullivan 74 66 66, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 72 69 65, Danny Willett 72 67 67
207 - Patrik Sjoland (SWE) 69 67 71, Peter Uihlein (USA) 71 68 68, Victor Riu (FRA) 72 71 64
208 - Robert Rock 67 71 70, Phillip Price 71 66 71, David Lynn 72 69 67, Seve Benson 71 69 68
209 - Richie Ramsay 69 70 70, Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 71 70 68, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 71 67 71, James Morrison 71 69 69, Bradley Dredge 71 70 68
210 - Robert Jan Derksen (NED) 73 66 71, Sihwan Kim (KOR) 70 70 70, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 71 71 68, Ross Fisher 70 72 68, Edouard Dubois (FRA) 73 70 67, Daan Huizing (NED) 73 69 68, Simon Wakefield 68 72 70, Oliver Fisher 69 72 69, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 76 65 69, Nathan Holman (AUS) 70 70 70, Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 70 69 71, Simon Thornton 71 69 70, Lee Westwood 73 69 68, Julien Quesne (FRA) 74 68 68
211 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 71 68 72, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 70 71 70, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 71 69 71, Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) 71 70 70, Wade Ormsby (AUS) 70 71 70, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 72 68 71
212 Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 76 67 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71 70 71, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 69 74 69, John Hahn (USA) 70 70 72, Mark Foster 69 69 74, Nacho Elvira (ESP) 71 70 71
213 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 69 71 73, Craig Lee 68 72 73, Chris Wood 73 68 72, Daniel Im (USA) 70 72 71, Greig Hutcheon 72 70 71, Johan Carlsson (SWE) 69 73 71, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 71 72 70, Paul Casey 70 70 73
214 - Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG) 74 69 71, Phillip Archer 71 71 72, 215 Damien McGrane 71 72 72, Andrew McArthur 66 74 75, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 71 70 74, Adam Gee 72 71 72, Lee Slattery 73 70 72
217 - Paul Lawrie 72 71 74
218 - Jamie McLeary 68 73 77
