Golf:England's Gary Boyd equalled the course record of 63 to take a two shot lead into the final round of the Castello Masters where Peter Lawrie is just four off the pace in a share of fourth at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo in Spain.
Boyd, in his rookie year on tour, went eight-under just three hours after his friend and compatriot John Parry had also shot 63 to lie five strokes off the pace.
Now Boyd, on 14-under 199 for the tournament, is determined to match Parry's recent win in the tour's Vivendi Cup.
"John's my room-mate and we're feeding off each other this year, trying to push each other along," said the 24-year-old. "But a lot of my friends have won on tour; I'm the only one left. I'm going to be trying to change that."
Matteo Manassero (67), the 17-year-old Italian hoping to become the youngest European Tour winner, shares second place with Sweden's Christian Nilsson (66), who produced another miraculous shot to maintain his challenge.
Manassero holed a 40-foot birdie putt from off the green on the 17th for a 67. It kept alive his chances of bettering New Zealander Danny Lee's triumph at the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic, when Lee was 18.
Manassero felt his driving and putting this week have given him a great opportunity.
"You have to hit the ball straight here, that's the sort of course I like," Manassero said. "And the greens are pure, you can hole some long putts on them."
Nilsson finished second in last year's Castellon event behind his compatriot Michael Jonzon.
The Swede preserved his round of 66 in breathtaking fashion on the last, finding the green despite having to play from the base of a dry-stone wall with an advertising hoarding blocking his route.
Lawrie carded a six birdie and two bogey round of 67 to get himself into position to challenge in tomorrow’s final round on 10 under. The Dubliner fired out of the blocks with three consecutive birdies. However two bogeys in the last five holes took some of the shine off the day.
Gareth Maybin moved to three under with his 69, while Damien McGrane (71), Paul McGinley (72) and Michael Hoey (75) were all one under. Shane Lowry’s 76 dropped him back to two over.
Collated third round scores and totals in the European Tour Castello Masters Costa Azahar, Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, Castellon, Valencia, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
199Gary Boyd 68 68 63
201Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 67 66, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 68 66 67
203Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 71 64 68, Richard Finch 66 70 67, Peter Lawrie 72 64 67
204Carl Suneson (Spa) 68 69 67, John Parry 70 71 63, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 68 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 66 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 66 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 64 71
205Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 66 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 68 72 65
206Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 64 71 71, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 66 69, Paul Lawrie 64 70 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 67 69, Phillip Price 69 68 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 68 68
207Santiago Luna (Spa) 72 69 66
208Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 66 71 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 68 71, David Horsey 65 72 71, Richard McEvoy 71 67 70, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 70 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 69 70
209Gary Orr 66 72 71, Oliver Wilson 69 70 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 67 68 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 71 66 72, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 70 68
210Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 70 73, David Drysdale 67 72 71, Gareth Maybin 68 73 69, Richard Green (Aus) 69 70 71, Andrew Coltart 70 73 67
211Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 70 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 71 68, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 71 68, Mark Foster 72 68 71, Mark Brown (Nzl) 70 71 70
212Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 69 73, Damien McGrane 76 65 71, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 70 73 69, Jamie Elson 72 71 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 68 70, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 73 68 71, Michael Hoey 67 70 75, Richard Bland 67 75 70, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 72 71, Steve Webster 69 69 74, Paul Waring 69 72 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 70 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 66 73, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 70 69, Sam Hutsby 71 69 72, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 69 73, Paul McGinley 74 66 72
213Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 74 70, Richie Ramsay 71 70 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 71 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 69 72, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 70 72, Todd Hamilton (USA) 69 74 70, Steven O'Hara 72 71 70, Simon Khan 66 74 73
214Javi Colomo (Spa) 69 73 72, Ross McGowan 73 70 71
215Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 69 74, Marco Ruiz (Par) 69 74 72, Shane Lowry 69 70 76, Bradley Dredge 72 70 73
216Alastair Forsyth 69 73 74