Golf | Matthew Fitzpatrick takes narrow lead into final round of Italian Open

English golfer Matthew Fitzpatrick heads into the final round of the Italian Open in Rome, with a slender one shot lead. The 25-year-old birdied three of his last four holes to take pole position.

The five-time European tour winner moved to 13 under, thanks to a 3 under 68 on day three of the competition.

It was a mixed start to the day for Fitzpatrick, with a birdie on the first hole, followed by a bogey on the second. But the Sheffield native, despite being one over after 10 holes, pulled it out of the bag to go into the final day at the top of the leaderboard.

Fitzpatrick is One shot ahead of American Kurt Kitayama and two clear of Scottish rival Robert MacIntyre.

Ireland's Graeme McDowell is not out of contention, but is six off the leader in a tie for tenth.

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McDowell finished the day with a 71, after a level par round. The early signs were promising, with three birdies on his opening five, but he would have only one more birdie on the day - on the 10th - and dropped shots at various points on the front and back nines.

Italian Open Leaderboard:

-13 M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -12 K Kitayama (US); -11 R MacIntyre (Sco); -10 M Wallace (Eng), B Wiesberger (Aut); -9 S Kjeldsen (Den); -8 J Wang (Kor), A Rai (Eng), A Johnston (Eng); -7 A Pavan (Ita), E van Rooyen (SA), G McDowell (NI)