Golf – European Tour:South African Louis Oosthuizen is primed to end a seven-year wait for a maiden European Tour win after storming two strokes clear of the field in the Hassan II Trophy third round.
The 27-year-old followed his record-equalling 64 on the Blue Course at Dar Es Salam on Friday by compiling another 64 on the Red layout to finish on 20-under 198.
Oosthuizen, who has been second on three occasions without managing a breakthrough victory on the tour, recorded 10 birdies and one bogey on Saturday.
"I felt like I hit the ball further with most of my clubs and my putting was good again," he said . "It was nice to have 10 birdies on my card, that doesn't happen every day. I am doing a few putting drills at the moment and it seems to be working so I just have to carry on doing that."
Rhys Davies is also hoping to clinch his first win after a seven-birdie 68 left him second on 200. Two weeks ago Davies led the Malaysian Open before ending in a share of third place.
"I am feeling really comfortable being in position again to win for the first time," said the Welshman. "This is my second tournament on the bounce where I am right in the mix and I'm enjoying it.
"It's good to be at the top and it's good to be playing with these world class players. Hopefully I can go that little bit better than I did in Malaysia and beat them tomorrow."
Thomas Levet (68) is tied for third on 202 with Thomas Aiken (67). Levet has competed in the tournament several times and is hoping local knowledge will help him secure a sixth tour victory.
"I am excited about tomorrow as I know the course very well," he said. "I am a little bit behind but four strokes are not too much to make up.
"We were on fire today and it's amazing how low people shot but I have the game for it. My game is good, I've done it before and it's going to be difficult for some guys because they haven't won before."
Ireland’s Peter Lawrie lost touch with the leaders in the third round and finished the day on nine-under. Gareth Maybin (11-under) now heads the Irish challenge with Darren Clarke well down the field on five-under.
Collated third round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated,
Irishin bold,)
198Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 64 64
200Rhys Davies 68 64 68
202Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 68 67, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 65 68
203Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 67 69
204Danny Willett 73 67 64
205Robert Rock 71 67 67
206Francesco Molinari (Ita) 66 70 70
207Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69 67, Gareth Maybin72 69 66, Nick Dougherty 66 69 72, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 68 68 71
208Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 65 73, Sam Little 67 69 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 67 71
209Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 68 70, Stephen Gallacher 66 72 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 69 68, Peter Lawrie66 70 73
210Richard Bland 69 73 68, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 73 67 70, Robert Coles 72 65 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 68 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 67 73, David Lynn 69 71 70
211Steve Webster 72 68 71, Peter Whiteford 72 70 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 72 65 74, Anthony Kang (USA) 70 69 72, Anthony Wall 69 73 69, David Drysdale 71 70 70, Stephen Dodd 70 70 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 66 74 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 72 71, Barry Lane 74 68 69
212Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 66 75 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 71 73, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 71 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 75 66 71, Paul Broadhurst 74 68 70
213Andrew Butterfield 71 69 73, David Howell 70 70 73, David Horsey 67 71 75, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 67 72 74, Darren Clarke69 72 72, Graeme Storm 73 69 71, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 70 68 75, Gary Boyd 71 72 70, Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 69 70, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 73 73
214John Parry 74 68 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 73 74, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 68 73
215Jhared Hack (USA) 71 68 76, Faycal Serghini (Mor) 73 68 74, Mark Brown (Nzl) 69 73 73, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 73 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 73 73
216Gary Lockerbie 74 69 73, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 71 71 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 74 68 74
217Jamie Donaldson 73 70 74, Younes El Hassani (Mor) 71 72 74
218Peter Baker 73 69 76
219Simon Khan 72 71 76