Larrazabal Up by Three in Germany


Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal carded a 5-uinder 67 to forge a three-stroke lead at the BMW International Open. The European Tour event is taking place at Golf Club Gut Larchenhof in Cologne, Germany.

The 31-year-old from Barcelona is now at 17-under 199.

There's a logjam of players at 14-under 202. The group includes Australia's Richard Green - who fired the tournament's low round, a 10-under 62, Italy's Francesco Molinari (65), Spain's Carlos Del Moral (66), Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (66), Swedes Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson - who each shot 66s, Argentine Emiliano Grillo (70) and Spain's Rafa Cabrera-Bello (70).

Larrazabal seems to have an affinity for German courses; he won the 2011 tournament in Munich by beating countryman Sergio Garcia in a playoff. He has yet to card a bogey while recording 17 birdies in 54 holes.

"I'm going shot by shot, hole by hole and trying to make as many birdies as I can," Larrazabal told reporters. "I put myself in a little bit of trouble but I knew how to handle it and to keep it going and make some birdies coming in."

He's also proud of the bogey-free stretch. "I know I can play better golf but not to have a bogey in three days is good, so while it was tough at the beginning of my round, it ended well for me," Larrazabal said.

Green posted eight birdies and an eagle Saturday on a softer course. "Compared to Thursday afternoon when I played, it's a totally different golf course really," he said.

"The course was firm on Thursday afternoon, bouncy, and now all of a sudden it's target practice," Green added. "So you can pretty much fly it at any pin and stop it right there."

Danny Willett, the tournament winner in 2012, began Saturday tied for the lead with Larrazabal, Cabrera-Bello, and Grillo. But the Englishman posted a 71 to drop into a share of 10th at 13-under with fellow Brits Paul Casey (63) and Oliver Fisher (65), Welshman Jamie Donaldson (65), Scotland's Craig Lee (69), Frenchmen Alexander Levy (66) and Gregory Havret (67), and German Alex Cejka (69).

For complete scoring details, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014050/leaderboard/index.html.