Wright and Kelly set to battle for Northern Open

Gareth Wright and Chris Kelly have forged four shots clear of the field with one round to play in the Northern Open golf championship after another balmy day at Cruden Bay.

Wright shot a 67 for eight-under-par 210, a 54-hole tally matched by Gleneagles Scottish Professional champion Kelly, also with a 67.

Both men dropped a shot late in their rounds, Wright at the 16th and Kelly at the 18th.

Earlier Wright had birdied the third, sixth, ninth, 11th and 12th, bogeying the 10th in halves of 33-34.

Kelly's bag of birdies amounted to six, one more than his Welsh rival, as he had gains at the third, sixth, 10th, 11th, 15th and 17^th.

But he also made more mistakes than Wright, bogeying the eighth and ninth apart from the 18th.

It looks a straight fight between Wright and Kelly for the £4,250 first prize and victory in a tournament that was first played in the 1930s.

Wright said: "I have been playing well all week. I am just trying to play steady links golf and find the fairways.

“This is the first time I have played Cruden Bay but the weather was idyllic for the third round so there were chances to make birdies. “Hopefully I can keep doing what I am doing.”

Kelly added: “I played a lot better than 67 but you just have to take the rough with the smooth."

Carluke's Craig Ronald, who is proud of the fact that he played football at Hampden Park in his youth, showed the low scoring potential on a windless day with a bogey-free, four-under 66 which elevated him into third place, albeit four shots off the pace.

Ronald is a shot ahead of three men sharing fourth place on 207 - Robert Arnott (Bishopbriggs) (67), Scott Henderson (Kings Links) (68) and Michael Patterson (Kilmacolm) (68).

Moray Golf Club member Kyle Godsman, who lives at Hopeman and spent four years on the US college circuit as a student at the University of Sout Carolina-Aiken, is favourite to collect the Bookless Cup which does to the leading amateur.

Godsman, whose ambition is to play for Scotland in the home internationals, shot a third-round 70 for level par 210 and a share of 10th place overall. His leading rival local member John Goodward returned a 75 for 215.