Italian Open 2021 R3
September 02-05
Marco Simone GC, Rome, Italy
€3,000,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Dane Nicolai Højgaard fired a bogey-free 65 to take a one shot lead in Rome, poised to emulate his twin Rasmus who won last week's Omega European Masters in Switzerland. A win on Sunday woud make them the first brothers to win back-to-back events on the European Tour.

"I would really love to win. Seeing Rasmus win is a big motivation. I'm just trying to follow in his steps a little bit. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow."

Italian Open 2021 R3

Nicolai came close to firing an albatross by nearly holing his tee shot at the par-4 16th but had to settle for an eagle and four birdies and reached the clubhouse in 13-under.

"I'm really happy. I played overall pretty good. I wanted to get up and down on the 18th to post 14-under but I'm really happy with minus 13.

"I am just trying to have a steady level of emotions. I try not to get too excited when I am hitting a shot or the other way around. I am just trying to be calm all the time and sometimes it happens to be good, sometimes not, but I had a really good day on the course."

Italian Open 2021 R3

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (67) and South African Daniel van Tonder (66) are tied in second place at 12-under.

"I'm happy," said Fleetwood. "I stayed patient through the front nine. There were a few people that got off to a really fast start but I didn't really have many chances. I had a couple of chances on the fifth and seventh that didn't go in.

Italian Open 2021 R3

"But I felt like my putts on the 8th and 10th - the two up-and-downs I made there - were so important, just not to make a bogey and not to fall backwards at that point, and I felt like those were the two most important putts of the day.

"Then I played some lovely golf from the 12th - 12, 13, 14, 15 I just found a little stretch where I hit the ball so well, did hardly anything wrong. I got a bit lucky on the 16th. When you miss one putt like 17th - and I've putted so well, I hit such a lovely putt as well, it's just the way that hole was placed, it was very difficult.

"I'm happy with where I'm at in the tournament. It's nice to come down the stretch on a Saturday in contention knowing you're fighting for your place so high up on the board going into Sunday, and I've got Sunday to look forward to."

Italian Open 2021 R3

Both had joined Højgaard in the lead but made their only bogeys of the day, at the 17th for Fleetwood and the 18th for van Tonder, to slip back into second place.

"Everything felt good," said van Tonder. "The tee shots, irons into greens and I was reading the putts well. My caddie this week has her work cut out for her, she is reading the greens quite well and I am listening to her, every time I have been listening I have been making putts, so trying to do that as often as possible.

“For me it is to just stay calm and collected, and take the bad shots when they come. My caddie will make me laugh and make me chill a bit, she helps a lot, so just go out and enjoy. Fairways and greens, and make putts."

Italian Open 2021 R3