Grant Forrest shoots 62 to share Hero Open lead with fellow Scot Calum Hill

Grant Forrest produced a brilliant 62 to take a share of the third-round lead with fellow Scot Calum Hill at the Hero Open in St Andrews.

There has not been home winner in Scotland on the European Tour since Paul Lawrie won the 2012 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, but Forrest and Hill have improved the prospects after climbing to 18 under par at Fairmont St Andrews.

Forrest began the day seven shots behind overnight leader Lucas Bjerregaard and his chances of challenging at the top of the leaderboard looked remote following an opening bogey.

But the 28-year-old responded with a brilliant birdie burst around the turn, which he continued on the back nine, to match the course record of 62 – which was set by Denmark’s Bjerregaard in the second round – to set the clubhouse lead.

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Hill started strongly and held a two-shot advantage early in the round but Forrest’s birdie run saw him trail his countryman by two strokes with four holes to play after bogeys at the 10th and 14th.

Hill, who was born less than 25 miles from the course, regained his composure with birdies at the 15th and 18th to join his compatriot at the summit, with fellow Scot David Law in close proximity at 16 under.

“It’s great. They’ve [Law and Hill] played really solid all year, Dave especially recently as well. To play at St Andrews, the home of golf, and to have three Scots up there is great,” Forrest said.

“Today I changed my putting grip and made pretty much everything and I think Lucas’s [Bjerregaard] putter has rubbed off me a little bit. I just hit lots of really good putts today. It’s tough making putts in that wind, you need a little bit of luck and I got that so I’m delighted.

“I’ve been feeling confident in my game so I’m just trying to trust that, and trust that the good scores are going to come along.”

Hill birdied the second just as playing partner Bjerregaard double bogeyed the same hole to sit at the top of the leaderboard.

An eagle at the next saw the 26-year-old extend his lead to two as Bjerregaard picked up a shot and the Scot climbed to 18 under after birdies at the sixth and seventh.

Forrest, following an opening bogey, made his move with a gain at the third before carding six straight birdies from the sixth. He missed another birdie putt at the 12th but picked up another shot at the next.

Hill slipped to 16 under after dropping his first two shots of the week, while Forrest was at the summit on his own after gains at the 15th and 16th.

He briefly extended the lead to two shots with his 11th birdie of the day at the last, but Hill joined him at 18 under par with late gains.

“I played really nice. It was difficult to make putts when it got windy,” Hill said. “I think that halted my score a little bit because today was my best ball-striking round but yeah, very happy.

“This is what you play for isn’t it? I’m looking forward to it, especially with a home crowd and family watching, I’ll be giving it my best.”

Spaniard Santiago Tarrio is the Scottish duo's closest rival at 17 under, with Law and two-time European Tour winner Bjerregaard one shot further back.

Jonathan Caldwell carded a two-under 70 to move to 12 under and into a share of 12th position, while Niall Kearney's six-under 66 moved him to 10 under. Gavin Moynihan is on three under after a 70.

Third-round leaderboard

British and Irish unless stated, par 72

198 Grant Forrest 68 68 62, Calum Hill 63 68 67

199 Santiago Tarrio (Esp) 67 65 67

200 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 62 71, David Law 67 67 66

201 Matthew Jordan 67 66 68, Berry Henson (USA) 67 67 67

202 Jordan Smith 68 68 66, James Morrison 69 66 67, Chase Hanna (USA) 65 68 69

203 Justin Walters (Rsa) 68 64 71

204 Matt Ford 70 66 68, Jonathan Caldwell 64 70 70, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 65 68 71, Toby Tree 67 68 69

206 Richard McEvoy 70 66 70, Callum Shinkwin 69 68 69, Garrick Porteous 69 69 68, Niall Kearney 71 69 66, Daniel Hillier (Nzl) 69 70 67

207 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 67 67 73, Richie Ramsay 67 69 71, Chris Paisley 66 72 69, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 69 65 73, Hugo Leon (Chi) 67 70 70, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 67 69 71, Craig Howie 75 65 67, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 66 72 69

208 Renato Paratore (Ita) 75 67 66, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 66 69 73, Oliver Farr 71 69 68

209 Wil Besseling (Ned) 72 71 66, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 70 67 72, Eduardo de la Riva (Esp) 68 67 74

210 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 71 71 68, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 73 68 69, Ross Fisher 65 75 70, Jamie Donaldson 73 67 70, Bradley Dredge 75 67 68

211 Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 74 68, Marcus Armitage 72 69 70, David Drysdale 71 67 73, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 76 67 68, Tyler Koivisto (USA) 69 71 71

212 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 72 70 70, Scott Hend (Aus) 72 69 71, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 67 70 75, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 74 69 69, Darius van Driel (Ned) 71 67 74, Rhys Enoch 72 69 71

213 Andy Sullivan 73 67 73, Ashley Chesters 71 71 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 72 69 72, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 68 71 74, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 76 67 70, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 67 73 73, Gavin Moynihan 70 73 70, Damien Perrier (Fra) 72 68 73, Daniel Gavins 71 72 70

214 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 74 68 72, Matthew Southgate 72 68 74, Jake McLeod (Aus) 75 67 72, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 72 70 72

215 Dale Whitnell 73 68 74, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 74 69 72, Lee Slattery 68 74 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 73 72, Daniel Young 75 68 72

216 Austin Bautista (Aus) 72 70 74, Frank Kennedy 72 71 73, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 73 70 73, Matthew Baldwin 75 67 74

217 Gary Stal (Fra) 69 74 74

218 Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 77 66 75, Shiv Chawrasia (Ind) 76 67 75