Golf: Shane Lowry and Damien McGrane kept their chances of winning the Spanish Open alive by remaining five shots off lead held by Mark Foster. Darren Clarke, meanwhile, was counting the cost of his early exit and late return to the tournament.
The Irish pair shot a matching two under 70s to advance to seven under and inside the top 10 heading into the final round at the Real Club in Seville.
After reaching the turn in level, Lowry enjoyed back-to-back birdies from the 15th, while McGrane also picked up late birdies at 13 and 16 having also gone out in level.
Foster opened up a three shot lead on 12 under 204 and is chased by Spain's Alvaro Quiros (67), Carlos Del Moral (70) and France's Raphael Jacquelin (71).
Clarke hardly had the ideal preparation after hot-footing it out of Seville and back home to Surrey yesterday thinking he had missed the cut.
The 41-year-old subsequently found out he had made the cut by one and had to get a private jet back to Malaga through the night before a long car journey to the tournament venue.
Such distractions didn't do much for the Ryder Cup hero as he needed two birdies in the last three holes to sign for a 72 and remain level par.
The adventure cost him a five-figure sum and most of a night's sleep, He landed back in Malaga at 2am, made it to bed in Seville two-and-a-half hours later and managed just 53 minutes' sleep before hauling himself up for his tee time.
"I consulted with Chubby (agent Andrew Chandler) and with 50 years' wisdom of these things between us, we decided that I wasn't going to make it, so I flew home," said Clarke.
"When it looked as though I might make it after all I set back off again to catch a plane from Gatwick back to Seville but turned round when it looked as though I had no chance.
"Then I found I was in. I had no idea where the plane I share with Lee (Westwood) was, so paid for a private plane from Oxford to Malaga."
“With the Tour staging such a good event it would have been very unprofessional not to make the event.
"I'm off back to bed for three or four hours," he added.
World number 363 Foster’s sole success on the circuit came with a 40-foot eagle putt after a six-man play-off in South Africa
“I was off to a slowish start, but stayed patient and gave myself a little reminder to keep going,” said Foster.
“Last time I had the lead was the British Masters and a couple of guys (Westwood and Ian Poulter) played really well.
“Whatever happens, happens, but I am in a good frame of mind. I was surprised how relaxed I was, but tomorrow is another day.”
Thanks to an injury to Indian Jeev Milkha Singh he is back with his former caddie Janet Squire for the first time in a year this week.
“I didn’t have one coming here from Korea. Janet’s been sat a home for six weeks and was happy to come out. She’s a brilliant caddie - one I can trust.”
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie’s wait for a first top-10 since June 2008 looks certain to go on. Double bogeys at the 10th and 18th and another six on the long ninth meant he managed only a 75 for one over.
Third round leader Edfors dropped back to six under after a 76.
Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour Open de Espana, Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
204 Mark Foster 69 66 69
207 Carlos Del Morral (Spa) 68 69 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 67 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 68 72 67
208 Stephen Dodd 69 68 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 70 67 71
209 Anthony Wall 71 68 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 71 69, Damien McGrane 68 71 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 69 70 70, Shane Lowry 71 68 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 66 72, Jamie Donaldson 71 72 66
210 Sebastian Garcia-Grout (Spa) 68 67 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 72 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 64 76, James Morrison 73 67 70
211 David Drysdale 70 67 74, Chris Wood 70 68 73, Danny Willett 68 68 75, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 68 70 73, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 72 68 71
212 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 66 73, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 72 69 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 73 71, Simon Dyson 68 73 71, Gary Boyd 72 71 69, Paul Lawrie 74 67 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 72 72 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 67 75
213 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 70 72, Stephen Gallacher 76 68 69, David Howell 74 66 73, Paul Waring 66 75 72, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 71 70 72, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 69 71, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 69 73
214 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 68 69 77, Richie Ramsay 69 72 73, Gary Orr 72 72 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 70 71
215 James Kingston (Rsa) 72 70 73, Phillip Price 71 71 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 72 74
216 Richard Bland 71 70 75, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 72 72 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 71 72, Sion E Bebb 72 71 73, David Horsey 72 70 74, Steven O'Hara 72 71 73, Darren Clarke 75 69 72, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 74 69 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 70 69 77, Richard Finch 69 73 74, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 71 72
217 Jamie Elson 73 69 75, Robert Rock 74 69 74, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 74 70 73, Peter Whiteford 73 71 73, Colin Montgomerie 71 71 75, Nick Dougherty 73 70 74, Richard Green (Aus) 71 73 73, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 69 71 77, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 70 76
218 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 65 79 74, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 71 75, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 73 71 74, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 71 71 76, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 73 74, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 72 74
219 Luis Claverie (Spa) 74 69 76, Simon Khan 72 72 75
220 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 71 76, Raul Quiros (Spa) 69 75 76
221 Sam Hutsby 71 72 78, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 72 78, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 70 78
222 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 69 79, Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 73 70 79, Marc Warren 71 73 78, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 72 71 79
223 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 73 79