Gale force Miller blows Holland into contention

Having survived the wind that plagued the first two rounds, competitors in The PGAs of Europe International Team Championship on Portugal’s Algarve were blown away by Ralph Miller on day three.

His golfing pyrotechnics over the Alvor Course at the Onyria Palmares Beach and Golf Resort resulted in the round of the tournament thus far – an eight-under-par 64.

Moreover, it is has put Holland on course to improve on last year’s joint second place finish and, in addition to claiming the Euros 6,000 first prize, win the tournament for the first time since 1991.

With team-mates Robin Swane and Nicolas Nube also playing their parts, albeit not as spectacularly as Miller, the Dutch go into the final round leading the 26-strong field by two-strokes.

Nipping at their heels, though, are defending champions Scotland, who lie second, while Ireland and Denmark trail the leaders by three and four shots respectively.

Although the competition is now Holland’s to lose, its format – as Miller concedes -makes two strokes a slender advantage.

“With the best two scores of the three players in each team counting towards the final total it can work both ways,” said Miller, who qualified as a PGA pro in the UK but has spent many years in Holland and is attached to the Old Course, Loenen.

“If someone has a bad day, it’s not necessarily the end of the world, but if two players are playing well then it makes them tough opposition. It’s going to be very interesting.”

Miller had anything but a bad day in benign conditions that, in contrast with those prevailing during the first two rounds of the tournament, were conducive to low scores.

Nevertheless his round that featured nine birdies, with the sole blemish a bogey at the par-three seventh, was exceptional under any circumstances.

It was three strokes better than the five-under posted by Scotland’s Graham Fox and Martin Hansen of Denmark, scores that have maintained their respective nation’s hopes of victory.

That total was emulated by Benjamin Nicolay of France who, with Fox, is the tournament’s leading individual on one-under after three rounds.

Nicolay led the French to victory two years ago and, four strokes off the lead here, a repeat in the tournament, which is supported by Glenmuir, the Associaçäo Turismo do Algarve and Ryder Cup European Development Trust, cannot be ruled out.

Not so Slovenia who, tied 14^th with South Africa, are 22 strokes adrift of the leaders.

However, despite that deficit there is good cause for celebration in the form of the five-under-par round posted by Damjan Murgelj (above).

“This is the longest course I have played,” said Murgelj, who turned pro 13 years ago.

“And although it doesn’t equal my lowest score, which was 65, this is undoubtedly the best round I’ve ever had. I’m very proud.”