Joost Luiten takes three-shot lead in Germany

Joost Luiten closed with a bogey-free 65, matching his lowest round of the season, to move to 14-under in the BMW International Open.

Luiten has won six times on the DP World Tour, but the last time was at the 2018 NBO Oman Open and he is currently playing on a career money exemption after finishing 126th in the 2022 Race to Dubai Rankings.

He currently sits in 22 place in the Rankings however after a single missed cut in fifteen starts and three top-3 finishes (Thailand Classic/T3, Hero India Open/3, Korea Championship/T3).

“Since I’ve been working with Jamie [Gough], I have so much variety in shot options, especially when it’s windy like yesterday,” he said. “That’s when I’ve struggled and now I can control the ball a lot more. I have a low ball flight in the bag now and I think that helps me a lot.

“Everything feels really solid and that’s definitely thanks to Jamie.

“Today was pretty much flawless. I didn’t really get into trouble that much and if I did miss the fairway I hit a great shot and still created a birdie chance. I made some nice birdies coming down the last four or five holes and it was nice.

“It would mean a lot to me to win but that’s not just me, that’s everybody. We’ve got another 18 holes here and I need to keep my head cool, hit some shots like I did today and we’ll see what happens. I’ll try to play shot by shot like I did today.”

Fellow Dutchman Daan Huizing carded a 66 to move into second place at 11-under.

Overnight leader Daniel Hillier of New Zealand shot a 71 and slipped down into a share of third place at 10-under alongside South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence (66) and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari (66).